Clash of the Benders
by Tsunei
Summary: Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko attend a school that trains benders. When the new students move into their wing, will they be able to get along with Naruto, Hinata, Tenten, Sakura, and Sasuke? And defeat a threat that could destroy their whole school?
1. Chapter 1

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 1

* * *

When it was first founded, the Kurai Academy for the Elementally Gifted- KAEG for short- was the lone place for benders. It was only after these few benders became famous for using their abilities- fire benders fighting fires, water benders stopping tsunamis, etc.- that the school received enough funding to support more and more students; to help hone the power of more and more young benders.

As of now, it a boarding school, home to several teenage girls and boys that have discovered their ability to command the elements.

Their school living system was well refined; never had they ever had a problem with the students living quarters, whether it be overbooking the rooms or the tenants not getting along.

As for the dorm rooms, every bender has their own separate room, sharing a wing with nine other students that belong to the other elements. Each wing is circular and holds twelve rooms along the circle's edges- ten bedrooms and two bathrooms. In the middle of the circle sat the kitchen, laundry room, and living room. Plenty of space for the students to be able to choose whether to hang out with their wing mates or get some peace and quiet.

And comfortable to stay year round.

* * *

"Mornin' guys!"

A chipper teenager bounced into the kitchen, sporting a grin so large it spread from ear to ear. A light blue arrow ran down his forehead, the top dissapearing under his head of short, shaggy brown hair. His bright yellow t-shirt bore the symbol of his nation- the air nation- and matched the yellow sneakers that peaked out from under his baggy blue jeans.

A pair of caramel-colored siblings looked up as he entered. The female- younger by two years- stood before the stove, quietly cooking their breakfast. The male hunched over a paper on the table, pen scribbling furiously.

"Good morning, Aang." The girl's long, dark hair swung around her face and cascaded over her blue off the shoulder top. Her thumb ran over the bottom hem of her blue jean mini- the white leggings underneath were to appease her brother- before she fingered the black choker boasting her water tribe's symbol from her neck. She smiled brightly at him, blue eyes sparkling.

Aang's cheeks flushed, but he smiled back nonetheless.

The oldest male in the room looked up and sighed. He shook his head, ponytail (or "wolftail" as he called it) barely brushing against the nape of his neck with its semi-long length. "Would you guys mind not flirting right now? It's still early and I don't even have any breakfast to throw up yet."

He yelped when his sister promptly yanked his hair, then paused in rubbing his sore head to glare at the snickering air bender. "Jeez, lighten up, Katara. I was just teasing." The metal bender moved to the younger male and pinched his cheek mockingly. "Aang's just so innocent, I couldn't help myself."

Gray eyes rolled at him and, after ducking around Sokka, Aang stepped up to the kitchen's island counter. "Need any help, K?"

She smiled gratefully but shook her head and shooed him out with a spatula.

He shrugged and disappeared into the living room- or what Sokka liked to call the Kick-Back-and-Relax Room. The air bender plopped down into his favorite beanbag, flicked on the TV, and traveled through the channels for something cartoony. Then the door burst open.

"… Mornin'," came a voice still thick with sleep. And in staggered a short girl in a green t-shirt with a brown pyramid decal and baggy khaki shorts. She ran her fingers through her silky midback-length hair black hair, pushing her long bangs up only for them to fall back into her face. The girl began to mumble incoherently as she kicked the door closed. Clearly not a morning person.

Sokka's head immediately popped into the room as soon as he heard the door shut. "Hey, Toph." When she stared at him blankly, he grinned.

"What're you smilin' at, metal head?" He clear eyes narrowed.

The metal bender just chuckled. "Looks like _someone's _still sleepy. Come take a seat before you fall out on the floor." He steered her to the black couch on the far side of the room.

Aang snickered under his breath. He could easily tell that Toph was enjoying the feel of Sokka's arm around her shoulders just as much as Sokka was enjoying her hand clasped around his wrist. The boy's escort was supposedly keeping her from tripping over or running into anything.

But everyone knew she could see just fine.

Although small and fragile-looking, Toph was an amazing earth bender. Said bending allowed her to get past the hindrance that was her blindness… Well, except reading and writing- but she did her school work orally anyway.

"Breakfast!" Katara's voice cut into his train of thought. But he couldn't complain, seeing as there was a wonderful aroma wafting through the air.

"MEAT!" Sokka cried, rushing into the kitchen and leaving poor Toph all by her lonesome.

"Pft. Moron…" She muttered before trudging into the other room, Aang not far behind.

Katara had cooked a large breakfast for herself and the four of her friends: eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, etc. And seeing how Aang didn't eat meat (him having been raised by monks), she'd made sure to prepare a plate of waffles especially for him.

"Yum! Thanks Katara!"

She nodded and smiled as they all moved to make their plates.

After all of their plates were filled to the brim, the four of them made a beeline for the Kick-Back-and-Relax room, settling down into the comfy furniture.

"Hey, where's Zuko?" Katara asked from her seat beside Aang on the black loveseat.

Aang shrugged and Toph did as well from her relaxed position next to Sokka, leaning heavily with her back on his shoulder while balancing her plate on her outstretched legs. The metal bender himself didn't bother with a response, too caught up in his food and supporting Toph to provide one.

"Well, he'd better get breakfast before orientation. The other students are coming later today," the girl sighed and sagged into the cushions. "I hope we get some people we can get along with."

They all nodded, each lost in the Scooby Doo movie that was currently playing.

Currently, there were five bedrooms left unoccupied, one from each element. And even though there were five being used, it was still somewhat… lonely. It also didn't help that they were some of the only students that stayed at the school year round. Since Aang didn't have parents; Sokka and Katara's father were on long term business with the military; Toph hated living with her parents; and Zuko's father hated living with him, they wallowed in the loving company their closest friends had given them.

At that moment, the door opened and in stalked a tall male with spiked black hair, shaggy fringe falling over the tell-tale scar on his eye. On his somewhat tight red shirt- which hung over his well worn jeans- glared a flaming black skull. "Mornin'," he grumbled over his shoulder as he made his way into the kitchen.

"Uh… Zuko?" Aang asked. "Are you okay? You look kinda… mad."

The fire bender quickly filled his plate, muttering irately under his breath all the while. When he returned, he took a seat on the floor by the loveseat and sighed. "I am… in a way." I didn't get a lot of sleep." He reached up to rub at his face in frustration. "My dad had some pretty… unfortunate news to tell me last night."

His four friends all turned their attention to him, having completely forgotten about the plates in their laps. He sighed yet again.

"My… sister's enrolling this year."

The Scooby Doo movie- which had still been on at the time- was momentarily out-noised. All four of the others began talking at once, asking questions and providing comments for someone else's question.

"C'mon, guys. Keep the noise to a minimum, please." Leaning back and resting his head on the cushion between Aang and Katara, Zuko scrubbed at his face again with his hands.

Everyone paused mid-sentence and quieted down; everyone but Toph.

"You mean the crazy one; the one that almost _killed_ you on time?" Her nose scrunched up in disgust.

"That was an accident," came his muffled reply. "You know that."

The earth bender rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. But if it was an accident, then why are you so upset about her coming here?"

To that she received no come back.

"That's enough, Toph," Katara chided, then set a hand on Zuko's arm in comfort. "And you: don't worry about her. You have all of us. Besides," she winked, "I know how to deal with crazy siblings."

"Excuse me, little sister?" Beside Sokka, Toph snorted out a laugh while Aang chose to snicker behind his hand. Zuko grinned and looked up through his fingers at the water bender.

"Thanks, K."

She smiled, pinched his cheek briefly, and asked Aang for the time.

"Aw man! It's 10:13!"

"WHAT?" All five hopped up and rushed into the kitchen, throwing empty plates into the sink for washing later, then emptied out into the circular hall of the wing. When they stepped into the long hallway outside of their dorm, all five knew that they wouldn't be able to make it to the auditorium in time on foot.

Toph stomped her fist into the nearest granite wall and withdrew a long slab of the rock, yanked Zuko on behind her, and went zooming down the hall. Sokka pulled a large ball of metal from his pocket (if you can't find your element everywhere, make it portable) and molded it into a long skateboard, which he used to follow the blind girl and her moving rock sled. After passing a fountain in one of the courtyards of the school, Katara swirled the water around her and traveled on the small wave she had created. Aang flew next to her on his glider.

All of them came to a stop right outside the auditorium's large wooden doors. After sharing a glance and taking a deep breath, the small group opened the doors and walked in; hoping that their new wing mates would be tolerable in the least.

* * *

Review please! :) X) XD

-Tsunei-chan3


	2. Chapter 2

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 2

* * *

"These are your schedules, test placements, and your room assignments."

KEAG's principal Iroh stood atop the auditorium's stage. "Please come up and get them from the staff here in front of the stage when your name is called." His dark eyes gazed over all of the young teenagers that made up the entire student body- new students who'd just been enrolled and old students who were returning after a summer away with their families.

Then there were those who'd never left the campus.

Aang sat conversing with Katara when his name was called. With a sigh and a complaint about his name always being called first, the air bender shyly made his way down the aisle toward his sensei of the previous year, Shizune. They exchanged smiles before she handed him a sleek envelope and he strode back up to his seat.

"What'd you get Aang?" He pulled out his schedule to hand to Katara but slid it back in its envelope when her name was announced from the front. As she got up to grab her things, he looked over his test placements.

The test placements were designed when KAEG was first founded. There were a small number of students who could not quite place their element. Air benders were confusing their gift for water bending after causing the wind to jostle some water; earth benders were confusing their ability to launch themselves into the air for air bending; etc. As the years went by and the bending of the elements became more and more popular, the purpose of the test changed. The students came with their elements already known but the administration insisted they take the tests anyway to find the Avatar.

Aang had thought nothing of the test when he'd first enrolled at KAEG; he thought of it as nothing more than a simple tradition at the school. That is until he got back the results from his own test.

He'd gotten extraordinary results from each of the element tests.

Brow scrunched in confusion, he skimmed over the paper once more. Twice. Three times. After the fourth time, he snorted and shoved it back into the envelope. Aang glanced up and watched as Katara sauntered back to her seat.

"Now we can compare schedules." She held hers up next to his.

**Aang:**

** 1****st****: Air Manipulation-Gyatso**

** 2****nd****: Water Manipulation- Pakku**

** 3****rd****: World History- Bumi**

** 4****th****: Lunch**

** 5****th****: Free Period**

** 6****th****: Fire Manipulation- Roku**

** 7****th****: Earth Manipulation- Bumi**

** Katara: **

** 1****st****: Advanced Water Manipulation- Kakashi**

** 2****nd****: Water Manipulation- Pakku**

** 3****rd****: World History- Bumi**

** 4****th****: Lunch**

** 5****th****: Free Period**

** 6****th****: Weapon Use 101- Shizune**

** 7****th****: Self Defense (Girls) - Anko/Kurenai**

"Wow, Aang," the water bender stated. "You've got classes in all four elements again this year."

He shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't know why, though. I've had classes in all of them for- what? Three years now?"

Katara nodded absent-mindedly. "Oh, look!" She pushed the schedules in his direction. "WE have second, third, and fourth hour together."

The brunette smiled a toothy grin. "Awesome! Now I have somebody to complain with." TO her confused gaze he said," We have Bumi's class."

She sighed. "Right; remember what Sokka said last year?"

"He's just as crazy as he looks," they recited together. After sharing a look, both laughed quietly as to not disturb anyone else around them. When their laughter subsided, Katara looked over the vast crowd.

"Hmm…" she muttered in thought.

"What?"

"Huh?" She looked up at him. "Oh, I was just thinking that any one of these people," she gestured to the rest of the auditorium, "could be our new wings mates,"

He nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking about that as well."

"I wonder if-"

"Please head to your wing and get settled in your rooms."

Aang and Katara shared a glance of worry before Sokka pushed by them to get back to the room. The water bender smiled and gripped the younger boy's wrist, dragging him out the large wooden doors gently.

"Come on, guys," she called, catching the remaining members of their group's attention. "Let's go meet our new roommates."

With hesitant nods, the group of five strode out the doors and toward their home: Wing Number Four.

* * *

"Um, are you sure we're going the right way, Naruto?"

The soft voice echoed around the desolate hallway as the five teenagers cautiously made their way to their newly appointed living quarters.

"Of course we are, Hinata!" The tall blonde at the head of the group turned his crystal blue eyes on her, causing her face to heat up.

Hinata kept her lavender eyes trained on the back of him as he walked, arms laced behind his head of unruly golden hair, muscular arms flexing unconsciously. She took in his orange t-shirt (his absolute favorite color) and sneakers, his fitted blue jeans.

Then she glanced down at herself and couldn't help but be slightly envious of her best male friend. Her skin was pasty pale compared to his bronze tone; her large purple jacket hid her tank top clad figure to appease her shy nature. Her black jeans were the only article of clothing that clung to her skin, her belief that baggy bottoms were much more of a hindrance than her heavy sweaters.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, the female wound a lock of her silky black hair around her index finger.

"Tch, the dobe doesn't know where he's going." The broody looking male next to Naruto sneered. He ran a pale hand through his inky locks, pushing his drooping bangs away from his calculating ebony eyes.

"Look, Sasuke. I don't wanna hear your crap today," Naruto replied.

"You're right. Only someone with intelligence could have a proper conversation with me."

A vein appeared on blonde's forehead as he spun on the dark boy. "What'd you say, teme?"

"Tenten," Hinata pleaded when the bickering escalated to a full out shouting match in a matter of seconds.

The oldest of the group rolled her chocolate brown eyes before straightening her pink Chinese- style top and stomping up to the two warring boys. Both yelped when she grabbed an ear each and pulled them apart. "Break it up, morons. This is the third school we've been to in the past six months." She looked at each of them in turn, staring them into submission. "Do you want to be relocated before we even get a chance to start?"

Neither boy looked at her as they muttered a soft "Sorry" and slinking down further down the still unoccupied hall.

"Wow, Tenten. You really handle them well." The last member of their quintet shook her head, pink locks swishing with her fast movements. No matter how many times she told people her color was natural, almost no one believed her. That is, until she met Hinata and Tenten. The other girls had insisted she join their group with the boys. Although, when she saw Sasuke Uchiha, how could she refuse?

Sakura blinked her emerald green eyes, breaking her stare at Sasuke's moving back when Tenten started talking again. She smoothed down her jean mini skirt and pulled on her red tank top before giving the older female her attention.

"I guess I'm the only one they listen to." She shrugged then paused. "Well, for Sasuke, I am. We all know Naruto _always_ listens to his Hinata."

Both girls giggled when the youngest of their trio's face went pure red. "G-guys!" she stuttered; only making them laugh harder.

"Come on, Hinata!" Naruto shouted from far down the hallway. Hinata found it odd that they were the only ones in it still. Weren't the other students supposed to be going to their wings as well?

"Coming!" Pushing her suspicious thoughts of the missing student to the back of her mind, the shy ravenette gripped the other girls' wrists and took off toward the boys. When they came to a halt, they were standing before a large set of wooden doors. On the wall above the entrance, a metal plaque read _Wing 4_.

"… Well, I guess we should go in," the blonde said, seeing that no one else made a move to open the doors. He pushed on one of the wooden monstrosities and stepped inside alone before yelling, "Anybody home?"

A hand smacked the back of his head irately. "Naruto, don't be such a loud dork!"

"Jeez, Sakura! Nobody even answered! They must not be back yet." At this announcement, the others flooded into the circular hall.

"I… I guess we had better pick our rooms," Hinata suggested quietly. "We can compare our schedules later." They all nodded in agreement and set off to either the right or left.

To the right of the front doors, the first two rooms were already taken. Hinata chose the fourth after Tenten had squealed when she saw that the window had a view of the outdoor sparring area. The shy girl didn't complain because the fourth room had a large bookshelf and a cushy window seat that allowed the sitter to view the most beautiful garden she'd ever seen.

Naruto called the room next to Hinata's, shouting a loud "Dibs!" when he spotted the orange color scheme. Sasuke snorted and snatched up the room next to it. "It's plain; perfect," he muttered before closing the door to properly inspect his new living quarters.

Sakura leapt at the chance to grab a room next to the broody Uchiha but her hopes were dashed when that room was already occupied. Instead, she settled for the one two doors down. The rosette immediately fell in love with the ballet bar built into the wall opposite the closet. "They must've forgotten to remove it after the last person moved out. Lucky me!"

After they all had an appropriate amount of time to admire their rooms, Hinata had the loud blonde call for everyone to meet at one of the two doors that lead to the middle part of the circular wing.

"Open it," Sakura commanded Naruto with a small shove.

"What? Why do I have to?"

"Because I told you to, dummy."

"Why don't you open it?"

"Because I don't want to open it!"

"Well, I don't want to either so-"

"Oh, shut up and move over!" Everyone watched with wide eyes as the usually quiet female pushed her way through and opened the door. She stopped in the doorway.

"What is it, Hina?" Naruto placed a hand on either of her shoulders and leaned to peer over her head. "WOW!"

The others crowded in, knocking Hinata and Naruto to the ground. "Hey!"

"It's huge!" Sakura cried, spinning in slow circles to take in the magnificent blend of color.

"Not to mention homey," Tenten added as she sank into the comfy black couch.

"Orange!" Naruto brought both Hinata and himself to their feet before launching into an orange bean bag. The Hyuuga giggled softly behind her hand before settling into the yellow bean bag beside him after being beckoned.

Sakura plopped down onto one side of the ink colored love seat, blushing a raging red when the quiet Uchiha sat on the opposite end.

"I think," Hinata lay her head on Naruto's arm and yawned, "that we're going to like it here."

"I second that notion," the blonde muttered sleepily, leaning back to rest his head near hers.

The rest of them nodded soundlessly before dozing off in the comfort and security of being able to be comfortable in their new home with their closest friends.

Not one of them heard the door open. Nor did they hear the anxious voices that flooded in from the hall.

* * *

This chapter has been revised. Also I don't own any characters from Naruto of Avatar: The Last Air bender. If I did, the world would be such a fluffy place. Hehe.

-Tsunei-chan


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 3

"…"

Aang, Katara, Zuko, Toph, and Sokka all stood in the doorway of the Kick-Back-and-Relax Room, staring at the unknown people that snoozed in various pieces of their furniture.

"Uh…" Aang started. "Should we…?"

Sokka stepped forward, drawing all of the group's eyes to him as he announced, "I'll do it." The metal bender crept forward, sneakers ghosting over the carpet silently as he made to stand over the oldest looking female. Her Chinese-style buns were slightly rumpled from her reclining position on the royal blue couch on the far wall. Being the strategist that he is, Sokka sniffed and noted the subtle metallic scent clinging to her.

_'Could she be a-'_he pondered as he reached out to touch the girl's arm. But, without warning, her eyes popped open. After letting loose an extremely unmanly shriek, the dark skinned male scrambled back a few feet, narrowly avoiding knocking heads with the girl. But his noise was cut short lived because one second the metal bracelet on her arm was just that- a bracelet. The next it was kunai knife and it was pressed sharply into his throat.

"Sorry, but I'm one of those 'shoot first- ask questions later' kind of gals," she growled in his ear.

"Leave my brother alone, you psycho!" Katara opened the flask on her waist, washing the brunette into the wall behind the couch with a flick of her wrist. She beckoned the liquid back to her, but gasped when the water was ripped from her control. The water bender traced it to the pale female standing in front of the yellow bean bag.

Hinata swirled the water around her, a fierce look in her exotic eyes. Even without words, the threat was present in the way her face set.

Katara stepped forward in irritation- and slight anger- before Aang intervened.

"_ENOUGH!_"

Everyone froze mid- action. Katara and Hinata continued to stare each other down, but had abandoned any thought of a violent reciprocate. Sokka and Tenten jumped away from each other, both brandishing the sword of their choice yet heeding to Aang's order to cease. Zuko grunted as he held back a livid Toph from mutilating Tenten. Naruto and Sakura sat in their respective seats, torn between leaping up to help their friends and staying seated to avoid starting another altercation. Sasuke glanced around in search of a weapon- using his element would undoubtedly cause more harm than help in such a flammable room.

Aang stood in the middle of the room, hands held up in a calming gesture. "Now," he glanced at each of the members of his group before settling on the strangers in the rom. "Who are you and why are in here?"

"We should ask you the same thing," Hinata retorted, eyes still trained on Katara.

"We _live_ here," the dark skinned female spat back.

Hinata blinked, suddenly realizing her mistake. "… And so do we. Does that mean…"

"We're roommates."

All the inhabitants of the room stared at one another, gaping at the strangers they had almost started a full out brawl with. Tenten lowered her sword as Hinata ceased in glaring at the other water bender.

"Um- I'm very sorry. I just thought…" The bunned brunette looked up at Sokka sheepishly, an apologetic grin on her face.

He chuckled and held out his hand. "No problem; you're pretty good. I'm Sokka."

"Tenten." They shook hands. "You know it's nice to meet another skilled metal bender. You don't see many of them- what with us not having an entire nation to ourselves and all."

The strategist shrugged. "Hey, it adds mystery to have us sprinkled all over the place."

They high fived and the others relaxed. Lavender eyes turned up at Katara shyly. "I-I'm sorry. It's just-"

Katara held up a hand. "No need to apologize. You were just trying to help your friend and I was trying to help my brother. But I'm sorry, too." They smiled at each other, settling side by side on the large yellow bean bag, Hinata pressed up against Naruto's side.

"Any earth benders in here?" Toph called, a mischievous edge in her tone. The new additions to their dorm all turned to look at the girl with pink hair.

"Uh, yes. I am." Sakura stood hesitantly. This small girl looked… rough. And although her element was what gave her the brute strength, the rosette was quite the girly-girl. The complete opposite of this girl from the looks of it. When she got closer, she had to refrain from gawking. '_Is she _blind_?' _"I'm Sakura. You are?"

"Toph." They shook hands, albeit hesitantly. Toph could feel how uncomfortable the other girl was and decided to break the ice a little. "You know, I'm kind of upset that we didn't get a chance to fight. It would've been fun; plus I'd get to see what ya got."

The rosette snorted out a laugh. "Maybe we can find some tie to squeeze it in later." They laughed and gravitated toward the blue couch, launching into an animated conversation about their favorite bending moves.

Aang gave Zuko a small shove in the direction of the quiet guy on the love seat. "First step to dealing with your sister: make more friends. The more you have, the less you'll be worrying over her." After grinning at the glare he got, the brunette stepped up to the tall blonde sitting in the bean bag next to Katara. In a fleeting thought, he noticed that the blonde and the girl Katara had been about to fight with were leaning into each other- most likely unconsciously. He grinned and stored that away for later; no doubt that it would come in handy later. "I'm Aang: air bender."

"Naruto: also an air bender. Care to sit a spell and converse like everybody else seems to be doing?" He patted the floor next to the bean bag, never moving or disrupting his physical connection with the girl at his side.

"Hey," Zuko greeted, hands stuffed in his pockets in an uncomfortable gesture.

The dark boy glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes with a bored uninterested expression. "… Sasuke." He then went back to watching the rosette quietly.

"Hm. I'm Zuko. You a fire bender?" His answer was a discreet nod. The scarred teenager knew he wouldn't be able to hold a conversation very long with this one, so he left him alone. Instead he sat on the floor and jumped into the riveting conversation Aang was having with the blonde kid.

One collective thought floated through the room.

_I think we're going to like it here._


	4. Chapter 4

**Clash of the Benders**

Chapter 4

"Thanks for helping us with our luggage," Hinata beamed at Katara as she tugged her suitcase behind her. The other water bender shrugged and slid the bag back up her shoulder.

"No prob," she replied with a warm smile. "Do you need any help setting up your room?"

The girl smiled shyly from under her long bangs, nodding sheepishly but exuding gratefulness.

After waving Sakura and Toph down the hall to Sakura's room, the two of them stepped into the next room over, laying all of Hinata's luggage on the large bed in the corner. The shy girl gazed around the room, taking in the soft blue shade of the wall and the white carpet covering the floor. She stepped over to the window and heaved herself onto the cushioned seat, staring at the marvelous plants curling around outside the window. A bird landed on a nearby tree and chirped at her. Delighted, she let out a giggle and whistled in reply.

Katara leaned on the wall next to her and watched the interaction with a small smile, wondering how much more pleasant this girl could possibly be. Before she could utter a word, Hinata was speaking.

"Blue's my favorite color," she muttered in a soft, pleased tone. "How'd they know?" She turned in her seat to stare at Katara with those unsettling eyes.

_'Not unsettling,'_ Katara amended. _' Different. Pleasantly different.'_ Then she remembered that she was expected to provide a response. Shrugged. "I'm not sure. Mine was painted my favorite color before we got here years ago. Purple: best color ever."

Eyebrow arched, Hinata turned back to the window with a huff of indignation. "I beg to differ."

Before the darker female could throw out a comeback, a sharp rap came from the door.

"Come in," Hinata called with her back still to the rest of the room.

The door creaked open and a blonde head popped in. "Hina, we're about to compare schedules in the living room. Oh, hey Katara. Aang was coming to tell you but apparently you're not in your room so…. Come down when you're ready?"

Hinata giggled at the request/ question and Katara cracked a small smile in response. "We'll be there in a minute, Naru," the ravenette answered softly. He grinned and disappeared, shutting the door quietly behind him.

A comfortable silence fell over them as they moved to unpack her luggage. But after a few minutes, Katara's curiosity got the better of her while she was placing books on the bookshelf settled on the right hand wall. "You call him Naru?" she questioned in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner.

Behind her the rustling stopped as Hinata froze in her shifting through her clothes. Katara spared a glance over her shoulder, watching as the other girl suddenly regained her composure and resumed in her trips to and from the closet with an armful of clothes. Katara didn't fail to notice the red hue staining her cheeks.

"Me and Naruto… I mean, Naruto and I are …." She went quiet and paused in trying to hang a white blouse on a hanger. A soft sigh escaped her but she continued. "We've been through a lot in the short time we've been friends- all of us. I guess… we got really close and didn't even notice." Dainty shoulder shrugged and she hanged the blouse's hanger on the bar in the closet.

Katara made a soft noise of understanding, insides churning with curiosity but knowing better than pry, especially when the subject was so obviously painful and personal. "Well for what it's worth, I think you guys are adorable."

The shy girl gave a small laugh and leaned out of the closet to gaze at Katara expectantly. "But what about you and Aang?"

Feeling her face heat up, the water bender merely raised an eyebrow in question. "What about me and Aang?"

To her surprise, the presumably shy girl presented her a smirk that resembled the one she received from Zuko on a regular basis. It just looked… out of place on the girl's face, but Hinata being devious was not impossible to believe.

"Your secret's safe with me, Katara," she was calling from the closet when Katara focused once more on their conversation. Even with such a strong feeling of foreboding, Katara smiled indulgently as she stuck another book on the shelf.

This year was certainly going to be interesting.

* * *

"Hey, Naruto." The blonde glanced over at Aang, hands in his pockets as they travelled around their large, circular hall. "What's with that Sasuke guy? Why won't he talk?"

Naruto sighed and looked away, alarming Aang for a moment. Had he said something wrong?

Finally the blonde shrugged and said, "He's been through a lot in his sixteen years. And I don't think he'd like me telling you his whole life story, so let's just say that his childhood wasn't as good as it was supposed to be."

Aang nodded slowly, offering a muttered "I think I can identify."

They walked in silence for a few feet before Aang decided to break it. "So…. All orange, huh?"

Naruto let out a boisterous laugh, one Aang was quickly becoming acquainted with. "It's my favorite color! And what's your excuse, Yellow Boy?"

The brunette shrugged but gave a beaming smile. "Hey, I just happen to like the color of my nation."

The older bender slapped his shoulder, pitching Aang forward a step. "Touché."

* * *

"So what's up with you and that Sasuke guy?"

Sakura looked up from where she was sifting through toiletries in one of her bags. From her position near the bed on the far wall, she threw a pair of socks at Toph, who was crouching to place shoes on the closet floor.

Sakura learned of the extent of her blindness: being able to see through the vibrations her bending picks up in the earth. She can judge distance and see objects if they have some connection the ground. But anything floating in the air is out of the question. Which was why Toph gave a loud indignant yelp when the socks landed on her head.

"Hey! It was a legitimate question!"

Sakura huffed. "Well, that's personal."

The younger girl snorted and shuffled further into the closet. "Doesn't stop him from staring at you whenever possible."

That stopped Sakura in her pursuit of the socks that had rolled behind Toph. She crouched behind the girl and whispered, "What?"

Toph spun around with a pair of heels in her hand and a heavy frown marring her features. "You mean you've never noticed?" At Sakura's soft sound of affirmation, she scoffs and turns away again. "Man, I thought people got more perceptive with age. Maybe you just get more oblivious. That would certainly make sense, considering Sokka…."

Sakura shook her head and headed back to her bag on the bed. "Look at me, being called stupid by a fourteen year old."

A short bark of laughter came from the closet and she smiled a bit. A sharp knock came from the door.

"Come on," Sakura called without looking up, expecting Tenten or Hinata or both.

The last person she ever expected to come into her room stalked in and leaned in the doorframe. "Sakura," he said shortly.

The girl stopped rummaging through her bag once again, gaping at the boy staring at her with sharp indifference. "Sasuke?"

He glanced at Toph, who had crawled out of the closet on her hands and knees. "Right. I don't want to know." Those calculating, obsidian eyes trained back on her, sending a shiver through her. "Everyone is meeting up in the living area. I was told to come and get you."

"Uh…." Sakura was at a loss for words.

Fortunately- or unfortunately, whichever way you look at it- Toph wasn't. The girl climbed to her feet and placed her hands on her small hips. "We'll get there when we get there, Fire Boy."

Frowning at her even though she couldn't see it, Sasuke glances at Sakura, who shrugs, before grinding out, "Don't call me that."

Feigning innocence, Toph blinks at him with unseeing eyes. "Why not? Seems pretty fitting to me, what with your anger rising. Oh, yeah; I can feel that sort of stuff."

Scowling heavily now, Sasuke shut his eyes before stalking out the door and down the hall.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called after him, knowing her outburst was wasted before stepping out into the empty hallway. She rounded on Toph with an exasperated sigh. "Why did you do that?"

The girl shrugged and headed to the shoe pile near the suitcase and picking up two different shoes. "He was being oversensitive. It's just a nickname. I gave one to everyone here."

Overcome by curiosity, Sakura carefully removed one shoe and shoved the correct one in her hand before asking: "What's mine?"

"Pinky," came the response, as if it should've been obvious.

Sakura scoffed, uncertain whether to be amused or offended. "Original."

"I know, right."

With a roll of her eyes, the older girl returned to her bag. "Could you at least _try_ to be nicer to him?" At the girl's disbelieving eyebrow raise, she added, "For me?"

Toph sighed and crawled back into the closet. "Fine, fine. I guess I'll be nice to your boyfriend." A small finger poked out from behind a hanging jacket. "Just make sure he keeps his guard up around me. I can't help that I have a sharp wit and attack anything moving."

Sakura tried to keep a straight face but gave in after catching sight of Toph's serious face. As she giggled helplessly, she grabbed the girl by the wrist and dragged her from the room.

* * *

"Wait up Tenten!"

Tenten glanced behind her at the figure hurrying to catch up, panting from dragging her heavy luggage all the way from the auditorium to their wing. "Oh. Hi Sokka."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Want some help?"

With a blinding grin, she tossed one of the heavier bags at him. "Boy howdy. Just don't let your pint sized girlfriend hear you helped out a woman."

Huffing slightly at the sudden extra weight, Sokka rolled his eyes and trailed after her. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just call yourself a woman. And- wait! Girlfriend? What girlfriend?"

Tenten peered over at him and, upon noticing the blush staining his cheeks, grinned and shook her head. "Nevermind. You already know what I'm talking about so why bother, right?" She laughed at his indignant protest and opened the door to her room. They threw her stuff onto the bed and collapsed on the floor, grinning at each other.

Sokka perked up suddenly. "Hey, when you're done setting up, Aang and Naruto want us to meet in the Kick-Back-And-Relax Room." He climbed to his feet and held out a hand to her before noticing the confused crease in her brow.

"The… _what _room?"

He gave a long suffering sigh and heaved the girl to her feet. "The Kick-Back-And-Relax Room. It's just a better, more fun name for the _living area_."

She laughed at his scrunched up nose and tugged him toward the door by his sleeve. "Let me guess. You came up with that all on your own?"

He huffed and stalked down the hallway, the sound of her boisterous laughter following him.

After she shut the door to finish unpacking, Sokka stuck his hands in his pockets and sauntered toward the- he shuddered- _living area_. As he stepped in, he spotted Zuko sprawled across the loveseat.

"Hey," he called, stepping into the kitchen for a drink. "Root beer?"

"Did you really have to ask?" came the hollered reply. He grinned into the fridge.

Sokka sank onto the couch and, after tossing the other soda can to Zuko, leaned back to enjoy the football game on TV. "Naruto and Aang are still rounding people up?"

The fire bender grunted an affirmative and opened his can with a hiss. After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat until Sokka tilted his face toward him. "Are you and Tenten getting along? You know, after she tried to decapitate you and everything."

Sokka rolled his eyes but gave a soft snort of laughter. "Yeah. She's really cool." His lips suddenly pursed in suspicion. "Why?"

The fire bender shifted minutely in his seat, toying with his drink until Sokka threw the pop tab from his soda at him. He growled half-heartedly. "How is it that you guys are all buddy- buddy with those who share your element? Mine won't even talk to me."

His friend shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he's shy."

Zuko scoffed. "Yeah, right. A shy guy running around with that big scowl on his face?

I don't think so."

Sokka chuckled and took a thoughtful sip of his root beer. "Maybe… Maybe you just have to be nice to him. Let him warm up to you, you know?" He paused for a fraction of a second before bursting into slightly- hysterical laughter. "HAHA! You get it? Let him _warm_ up to you? HAHA!"

Zuko stared balefully as he wiped an imaginary tear from his cheek. "Wow, Sokka. And here I thought your jokes had gotten better over the years. Guess not."

"Hey!"

And there they sat, bickering until the rest of their wing mates clustered into the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Hola hola. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I worked hard on this chapter (Not time wise, but what you know what I mean). So ENJOY! :)

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 5

* * *

"Is everybody here?"

Aang did a quick head count and nodded to Katara.

"Alright. Um I guess we can split up by element and exchange schedules." The others muttered agreements and paired off around the room.

After a few minutes, they got into a big circle and discussed who had lunch an free period in what hour.

**-Lunch Hours**

**4****th**** Hour: Aang, Katara, Naruto, Hinata**

**5****th**** Hour: Sokka, Toph, Zuko**

**6****th**** Hour: Sasuke, Sakura, Tenten**

**-Free Periods**

**3****rd**** Hour: Hinata, Zuko, Tenten**

**4****th**** hour: Sokka, Sakura, Toph**

**5****th**** Hour: Aang, Naruto, Katara, Sasuke**

"Jeez. Aang, Katara, did you guys bribe the secretary or something?" Hinata asked, sending a sly glance in the other water bender's direction. "You have a lot of classes together."

Katara's face went slightly red but she played it off. "Actually it's been like that for… as long as I can remember. Hasn't it, Aang?"

She relaxed when the tattooed boy nodded in conformation. Then she sent a triumphant look at Hinata- who, in turn, stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

"Lucky!" Naruto called to Aang. "You have a class with everyone in here."

The young air bender shrugged, trying to avoid telling the new comers that it had always been like that. Katara cast him an understanding look before changing the subject.

"So… How do you guys like it here so far?"

The others exchanged glances before grinning and shouting in unison- well excluding the ever stoic Uchiha- "AWESOME!"

They all shared a laugh before settling into their respectable furniture. After a while, Toph stood and stretched.

To the questioning glances she got, she said, "What? Am I the only one that's hungry?"

A low rumbling erupted around the room, causing the Wing 4 inhabitants to laugh in embarrassment. Nonetheless, they all followed the blind earth bender out of the room.

Halfway down the hallway, Katara walked up to Hinata. "Race ya to the cafeter-!"

Before she could even get the words out, the Hyuuga sprinted toward the nearest fountain. "H-Hey!" Katara stuttered before chasing after her fellow elementalist. Melodic laughter floated down the long corridor toward the others.

Naruto smiled absently after the ravenette. Aang noticed this, punched his arm lightly, and grinned. "Huh? What is it buddy?"

"Hinata, huh?" He chuckled quietly when the blonde's face went red.

"Wh-What are you-?"

"Oh don't even start with me, man." The younger male waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

Naruto narrowed his blue eyes. "Well, what about you and your water bender over there?"

Aang continued to smile but the small blush on his face was somewhat noticeable. "Well… I don't know, actually."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. We'll talk more when we get back to the wing, 'kay?"

When the other boy nodded, he started jogging. "Come on air boy! Your lady's gettin' away!"

Aang laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Yours is winning the race!"

The whole group dashed toward the racing females, both atop their respective waves of water. After a few minutes, they all arrived at the large double doors of the old cafeteria. Katara and Hinata were found panting slightly.

"… I WON!" They both shouted, and then glared at the other. "No you didn't… STOP COPYNG ME!"

Their group laughed before pushing them into the large room. Zuko waved them over to a table near the wall. "Okay, we should go out two groups at a time." They all stared at him blankly, causing him to sigh in exasperation. "You know, so they don't steal our table."

"_Oooo_."

He rolled his golden eyes before pointing out the different shifts. "Aang, Naruto, Sasuke, Sokka, and I will stay here. Go ahead ladies."

They all smiled sweetly and batted their eyelashes before turning away giggling.

On their way back, Hinata and Katara chatted idly about their water bending classes while they walked back with their lunches, Tenten, Sakura, and Toph not far behind. All of a sudden, there was a loud crash and the sound of food splattering.

Hinata looked up from her pace on the floor in surprise. "Oh God. I am so sorry! Can I help you up-"

"I don't need your help, you wench!"

She froze at the words, looking to Katara to make sure she heard right. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." A black head lifted to reveal gold eyes, glistening with hate and power hunger. "You dumped your food on me on purpose, you filthy mongrel."

The usual kindness that was seen in the water bender's eyes vanished and was replaced with ice cold anger. "You're one to talk. Who's the one covered in food? You look like you just crawled out of a garbage can."

Snickers and full out laughter was heard around them and she was finally aware that entire room was watching them. The girl's golden hardened as fury glazed them over. "No one talks to me that way."

Giving her an innocent tilt of the head, Hinata replied, "Well, If I'm not mistaken, I think that _I_ just did."

With a low growl, the girl raised a hand up to strike her. Out of reflex, the Hyuuga brought her arms up to block or deal a blow of her own. But a pale hand reached out of nowhere and caught the girl's wrist.

"That's enough, Azula."

Without looking back, the girl chuckled. "Oh I'm sorry, Zuzu. Am I threatening your little girlfriend?"

Hinata's eyebrow twitched. "_Threatening?_" She almost lunged but hands held on to her shoulders, holding her back. She took a deep, calming breath. "…Thanks, Naruto."

The blonde nodded. "Let's head back to the table. You can share lunch with me." He grinned at her, knowing it would calm her down.

It worked. She smiled back slightly and followed back to their table. Katara waved Sakura and Toph after them, but stayed behind to offer Zuko with any assistance he might need.

Azula ripped her hand free from his grip and glared at him. "I told you before I came here. Even Father told you." She moved forward until their noses were almost touching. "Stay. Out. Of. My. Way."

His calm expression turned to one of slight anger as she sauntered away to join her table- all people who she had either manipulated for a short time or completely brainwashed.

He sighed before pulling Katara back to the table with him. Aang gave him a hard questioning glance as he made room for the water bender.

"Who was that?" Hinata stole the question right out of his mouth.

Zuko sighed yet again, a sour expression on his face. What he said next caused jaws to drop.

"That's Azula, my little sister."

* * *

Dun Dun DUNNNNNN!

Uh oh. Azula crazy ass has finally shown up.

For those of you who haven't read my previous fics, Hinata is one bad ass chick. Lolz. Well she's alwasy been, but they never give her enough time to show how bad ass she really is. So... now ya know! :)/FUntil next time people. READ AND REVIEW!

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't know if I've said that before. So I'm doing it now. Enjoy! ;)

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 6

"… That psychopath is your _sister_?" Katara yelled in a whisper. "I know you said that she was a little off, but not a complete bitch!"

Sokka gave his sister a raised eyebrow, but she payed him no mind.

Zuko sighed. "Hey, my mother did all she could to make sure I didn't end up like that. You should be happy."

Naruto looked to his right, watching as Hinata stared down at the table in silence. "Hina?" he called softly.

She blinked before looking into his eyes and forced a smile. "I'm fine, Naru. Just… surprised is all."

His blue eyes narrowed before he nodded and looked away. The air bender would be sure to discuss it with her when they were alone. He then pushed his tray to sit in front of them both and began to quietly slurp his ramen. She nibbled on a French fry thoughtfully before the others did the same. The rest of the meal was silent.

When Naruto stood to empty his tray, Hinata stopped him. "I'll do it."

"But-"

"Nope. My mind's made up." She smiled before bouncing over to the trashcan.

His eyes softened as they stared after her. But out of the corner of his vision, he could see Azula stand from her seat across the room. She was headed in the direction of the trashcan, tray in hand.

Without thinking, he strode to the Hyuuga. When he saw Azula glaring at Hinata's back, he cast her a cold look. She caught this and her eyes widened in surprise before she stopped her approach. Hinata turned and almost stumbled into him.

"Naruto? Is something the matter?"

He blinked before grinning sheepishly. "Uh, I just thought I should escort you. It's my tray after all."

She giggled and swatted his arm playfully. "Come on, silly. The others are waiting." They walked back to the table, Naruto keeping an eye on the female that had just reached the trashcans.

"Let's go guys," he called when they had reached their friends. The other teens nodded and exited the cafeteria.

* * *

"So what do we do about Miss Priss?" Toph asked after they had all settled in the Kick-Back-And-Relax Room.

"Nothing."

Every head turned toward Zuko and golden eyes stared back.

"What do you mean nothing?" Katara asked.

"I mean that we leave her alone. You don't know Azula. She's ruthless and will do just about anything to ruin your reputation and/or life."

Everyone went silent. That is until a light bulb went off in Sokka's head.

"I've got it!" Zuko sent him a sharp look while the others looked with interest. "We do just what Zuko said: nothing."

"…"

"… What?"

"What the hell are you talkin' about man?"

"Well, Naruto," Sokka said, speaking like you would to a child. "We're going to sit back and let Azula have her way. For now."

"And how exactly is that going to help us?" Hinata gave him a hard look, making him squirm under her gaze.

"We're going to let her know that she can't mess with us. But if it gets worse, we're going to take action." He glance at Zuko, seeing the slight scowl he had on his face.

"Okay, Everybody," Aang called, catching their attention. "We'll leave her alone. Don't let her mess with you. Especially you Hinata." She looked away when he stared into her eyes. The air bender sighed. "It's late. We should get ready for our 1st day tomorrow."

The others nodded and made their way out of the door. Naruto hung back, grabbing Hinata's arm before she could get into the hallway. When she looked at him questioningly, he asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Lavender eyes blinked up at him before their owner sighed. "… Yeah, I'm fine. She just… irks me. Her 'Mightier than Thou' act is gonna get old real fast."

He chuckled. "Well, I don't really care if anything's wrong with her. It's you I'm worried about. Please don't do anything dumb." A grin split his face. "That's my job."

She laughed. "I can take care of myself, Naruto."

"My other job is to protect you, no matter what."

The water bender blinked before her face went pink. "Um… Well, thank you. But what do I need protection from?"

His expression went hard. "She may not seem like it, but I can tell something's wrong. When I looked in her eyes, I saw something-"

"Evil," they said in unison. Naruto blinked at her.

"Yeah. You saw it, too?"

She nodded. "Maybe that's why I couldn't help but be mean back." She paused and frowned slightly. "Man, now I feel kind of bad."

Naruto laughed. "There's my nice sweet Hina!" She giggled when he ruffled her hair with a grin. Then it melted into a warm, tender smile; one only she had ever seen. "You can't help but be wonderful can you?"

She smiled in the same fashion. "I guess not. I learned from the best, haven't I, Naru?"

"Yeah…"

Neither noticed that they were slowly leaning toward the other. That is until a cough sounded from the doorway. They jumped up, both faces a bright red as they faced a grinning Aang.

"I wanted to talk to you, _Naru_," both teens' blushes darkened, "but I can see you're busy."

"Ah, No. Naru-to, I'll see you in the morning." The only female in the room gave Naruto a side hug and bid Aang goodnight before scurrying out of the room.

Aang chuckled. "Wow."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Did you really want to talk? Or did you just wanna ruin the moment?"

Aang snorted. "Yeah, I did want to talk…. About Katara."

Blue eyes crinkled as the blonde grinned. "Well, then come on! Let's head down to my room."

The boys headed to "The Orange Room" –as Aang had named it- unaware that a certain Uchiha had overheard. He needed to talk to Naruto as well, so he trailed behind them. He guessed it wouldn't hurt to talk around the younger male; everyone else seemed to trust him just fine. Sasuke set on a blank face and followed the boys through Naruto's door.

* * *

Good? Bad? In between? Feedback please! That means Review People! :)

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


	7. Chapter 7

I'm back. See, I had a problem with this chapter. What had happened was I thought that I submitted this chapter in like so long ago (Last week)... but it turns out i did not. -.-' Totally my bad. But it's here now, so enjoy peeps!

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 7

The sunshine streamed through the curtains in the Orange Room, landing directly on lidded blue eyes.

The blonde groaned before rolling over on his side, glancing briefly at the clock on his bed side table. "7:06… Class starts at 8:30…" he mu

ttered before blinking hard to rid his eyes of sleep. Having taken a shower the night before, he slowly stood to get dressed. Right before exiting his room, Naruto remembered to grab his schedule off of the dresser. _'Better safe than sorry, right?'_ He thought as he strode down the hallway toward the living area.

"Morning, Naruto," a chipper Hinata called from the kitchen when he entered. She wore a loose-fitted black t-shirt with symbol of her element in blue on the chest. It sat low over her blue jeans and was partially covered by her stars-and-moons belt that rested comfortably on her hips. She smiled at him from under the small number of bangs that had not been swept into a high ponytail.

He grinned. "Nice first-day-of-school outfit, Hina."

She quirked a brow. "What about yours?"

He looked down at his white shirt with a red fox head covering the entire chest. His black jeans with red accents matched his blood red and black belt. The blonde shrugged, causing the female to giggle.

"Go wait for breakfast, silly."

It was then that he noticed the girl had been cooking over the stove. The table in front of him was covered with various breakfast foods: pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausage, bacon, etc. Naruto reached for a cinnamon roll, but had his hand swatted by a spatula. "Ow!"

Hinata smiled sweetly at his slight glare as he nursed his wounded hand. "You'll just have to wait for the others."

He pouted before slinking away into the Kick-Back-and-Relax room, her melodic laughter following after him. It was then that the door burst open and a disgruntled Sasuke walked in.

"What's wrong, Teme?" Naruto asked with slight concern. Although they fought on a regular basis, the guy was his one of his best friends (Hinata being the other).

The Uchiha sighed and plopped into the dark blue couch. Naruto raised an eyebrow. Since when did the ever aloof Sasuke- who always made his movements look fluid and easy - plop into any piece of furniture?

"… Sakura…"

The blonde blinked before realization dawned on him and he grinned widely. "Oh, I see." He poked the other boy's arm. "Pinky was too much for you, huh? That's okay. You can ask her out when she's not so talkative. Maybe you should try late at night…. But then she'd be too tired to pay attention…"

"That's not it," was the soft reply that caused Naruto to cease in his absent minded rambling.

"It's not? Then what happened?"

"… She fell…"

"… And?"

"… I caught her."

"Well, what's so wrong with that?"

"… It was the _way _I caught her."

"…"

"…"

"Well, are you gonna tell me?"

Sasuke sighed. "Well… she-"

The door was flung open and in stalked the object of their conversation. She spotted Sasuke and promptly ducked into the kitchen, face a bright fire truck red.

Blue eyes narrowed at him in suspicion. "What did you do, Uchiha?"

A small pink hue tinted his cheeks as Sasuke avoided Naruto's hard gaze. "Well…"

* * *

"He did WHAT?"

Sakura nodded as Hinata stood in front of the stove, mouth agape.

"And you let him?"

"Of course not! ... I just didn't move for a couple seconds. I was in shock okay!"

The Hyuuga paused before giggling uncontrollably. Sakura frowned.

"That's not funny, Hinata!"

"Y-yes. Yes it is!" She gasped for breath when her fit of laughter had subsided. "Okay. I'm cool now." Amused lavender eyes regarded her. "So, you fell and he grabbed your…"

"Yes."

"And you elbowed him in his… "

"… Yeah."

"… And you're still positively in love with him."

"Yeah…. HEY!"

Hinata chuckled at her friend's flustered expression.

"Nata!" Sakura whined, using the pet name she had given the girl when they were 6 the day they met.

Said girl sighed. "Okay, okay. You like Sasuke and I know for a fact that he won't take advantage of you. He may be quiet and mean looking, but I know he's too kind for that. Plus, he grabbed you on accident…. I'm not sure I can say the same about you, though."

"HINATA!"

"Kidding, kidding." She laughed under her breath. "Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. He's a good guy. Don't be so high strung, girl."

Sakura laughed. They always called her high strung when they were younger. "Yeah, sure. Do you need any help with breakfast?"

"No, I'm fine. But I would appreciate you going to retrieve the others for me." She batted her eyelashes, flashing a sweet smile at the pink haired girl.

She laughed. "Coming right up, Ma'am."

* * *

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"… Naruto."

"HAHAHAHA!"

"Naruto."

"HAHAHAHA!"

"NARUTO!"

"I-I'm sorry, Sasuke. It's just… you should see your face right now man!" The blonde jumped right back into another round of laughing.

"Shut up, Dobe." Sasuke sulked on the couch, not noticing that someone had walked up beside him.

"Sasuke," Sakura called softly, causing said boy to jump.

The Uchiha looked up hesitantly. "Uh, hi Sakura."

"… Would you help me round up the others?"

He blinked. "You're not mad."

She looked away, cheeks turning slightly pink. "Well, no. It was an accident right?" He nodded and she smiled. "Then I have nothing to be mad about."

He gave her a small smile before standing. "Right."

"Oi! Are you guys gonna go, or what?"

They jumped, both having forgotten that Naruto was still in the room. "Um, yeah. Let's go, Sasuke."

Said boy nodded before opening the door for her and following her into the hallway.

As soon as the door closed, Hinata walked in through the kitchen. "Are they gone?"

"Yeah."

They looked at each other before grinning widely. "YES!"

"So when do you think the wedding's gonna be?"

She giggled. "Soon apparently. They already can't keep their hands off of each other."

The two of them shared a pleasant laugh before the blonde offered to help finish the preparation of breakfast. The Hyuuga smiled sweetly and accepted, sneaking glances at him while they bustled around the kitchen. They shared a few laughs and started up slight conversation now and then. Naruto would purposely brush his hand against hers when they moved in opposite directions throughout the kitchen. All in all, cooking had never been so fun to either of them.

* * *

NaruHina and SasuSaku in one chapter! Okay, so this is the morning right before their 1st day of bending school. Next chapter, you'll be following our main characters throughout their day (well parts of interest) and then the beginning of the problem will be in the chapter after that. What's the problem you ask? Well, I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to find out!

Review pretty pretty pretty please!

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


	8. Chapter 8

Hello. I'm kind of excited about this story. But -as always- I haven't gotten all of the details down yet. I usually think of the big, main events first and fill in the blanks. So, I'm sorry if this is going slower than you'd like. But, hey, it's a work in progress. Lolz. So, without further ado, here's chapter 8!

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 8

"Sokka."

"Hm?"

"What are you doing?"

He and Toph were currently standing in the latter's room, him in the doorway and her looking at him in suspicion.

"Well, I thought you'd like to walk to class together. " He turned and waved over his shoulder. "But if you don't want to walk with me..."

He yelped when she roughly shoved him out into the hallway. "Move it or lose it, Snoozles."

He smiled and hurried to catch up. "Yes, ma'am."

The blind earth bender gave a small smile from under her bangs. "So…" she started when silence settled over them.

He raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"Uh… How do you like your 'Element Buddy'?"

The tactician chuckled. "Is that what we're calling them now? Our 'Element Buddies'?"

She nodded stubbornly causing him to laugh and wrap an arm around her. "Well, Tenten is pretty cool. She's fun to talk to and is really advanced in her bending. I guess it's because she's so obsessed with weapons."

"And how do you know that?" He glanced at Toph, but she averted her gaze.

"For one, she always shifts her metal into all sorts of different weapons. And secondly, she told me herself." Sokka squeezed her shoulder. "Your turn."

"Sakura's okay. I thought she was a little too girly, but she turned out to be kind of hard core."

They both laughed. Then the female tensed suddenly.

"Toph, what's wro-"

"Shh!" She held onto the arm that was now squeezing her closer to the metal bender. She felt… something. A presence. But its identity was concealed, much to her frustration. Its steps were soft, barely detectable, and laced with purpose.

And it was just around the corner.

_'I should have been able to sense that way down the hallway,'_ Toph chastised herself before putting all of her concentration into tracking the person.

It stalked into the bathroom first, stayed for a few seconds, then moved on to the laundry room. It lingered there for a small amount of time before slinking down the hallway. When Toph sensed two other presences –Aang and Katara- the stranger ducked into Naruto's room. When they passed, it hurried down and slipped through the door, unnoticed by anyone else.

Toph wasted no time in taking off toward the door, Sokka calling out to her as she went. She ignored him but was strangely relieved when she heard his footsteps pounding behind her. When she reached the entrance to their wing, she flung it open.

Only to meet an empty hallway.

"Toph! What the heck is wrong with you?"

She glanced back at the panting boy behind her before touching the ground lightly with her fingertips. "Someone was here," she said softly.

"What? Who? And can't you sense these things?"

"Normally I would. But they did something to restrict my ability to see," she snapped. Toph was extremely frustrated; with herself and the mysterious person who could render her actually blind.

Sokka blinked before noticing her frustration. His expression softened as he put a hand on her arm. "It's okay, Toph. Let's head to class, then later we can tell the others. Ten heads are better than one, you know."

She nodded hesitantly and turned toward the corridor toward their classes, closing the door behind them. From down the hallway, chocolate brown eyes watched them warily.

"How did it go, Ty Lee?" A voice asked from behind the figure, causing it to jump. Ty Lee whipped around, staring into fierce golden eyes.

"It went well, Azula."

Azula smiled wickedly. "Good. Well done, my friend." She turned and headed down toward her own class. "Come."

"Hey, Azula," the lithe air bender called. "Why'd you want me to do all that stuff? I mean, what's gonna happen?"

The fire bending prodigy glanced behind her briefly before replying, "A warning. It's the only one they get."

Ty Lee stopped and gazed back toward the door she had just exited, a small frown of pity found itself on her face. Then she bounced back to Azula's side and walked in silence.

* * *

I know, I know. Short chapter. But I hope you can see the significance of this. It has purpose people! So please review. I'd like to know your opinions. :)

ja ne,

Tsunei-chan


	9. Chapter 9

Hola! I'm back with another chappie peoples. This is following everyone through their first period class of their first day. So... enjoy!

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 9

* * *

Aang sat on the stone floor of the training balcony of his first class: Air Manipulation. They had just come back from changing into their training outfits: a yellow t-shirt with the element symbol in orange, black pants, and black boots. The tattooed boy sat in the back behind the rest of the class. Being as shy as he was, he did not want to attract unwanted attention to his blue arrow tattoos- the tell tale sign that their owner had mastered air bending. Although, the tattoos depended on the person; some were always more visible than others. However, his precautions were in vain for a student happened to notice him.

"Hey!" he cried. "You've got your tattoos already! Shouldn't you be in the advanced class?"

Aang cringed at the volume of their voice and all the heads that turned in his direction. But fortunately for him, Naruto shared his first hour class.

"Hey, maybe there were no spots left in the advanced class. Or he didn't want to go there. Either way, it doesn't concern you." The boy who cried out gave the blonde a sour look before turning around hastily at the glare he received.

"Thanks, Naruto." He grinned.

"Any time, buddy. Besides, I bet you didn't even need my help."

The brunette ducked his head and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, sure."

"Really, Aang-"

"Alright, everyone!" The two males turned their attention to the front of the large balcony, spotting a middle aged man near the railing. He had no hair- making easier to see the blue star tattoos on his head, forehead, and neck- and wise, old gray eyes. "My name is Gyatso. Shall we start the lesson for today?"

A girl with a long braid of brown hair and chocolate brown eyes raised her hand. "Mr. Gyatso-"

The man waved his hand in a submissive gesture. "Just Gyatso please."

"-Gyatso," she continued, "We're just jumping into the lessons? No- I don't know- summary of the class?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Summary of the class? Hm… You'll be learning air bending. Is there anything else you need to know at this very minute?" When she shook her head, he walked toward a supply cabinet on the other side of the balcony. "Very well. Now everyone," he opened the cabinet, "pick a glider."

The entire class crowded around him, peering at the different colored stick. Suddenly the girl from before squealed, "PINK!" and snatched up the magenta staff.

Naruto reached one of the black ones as Aang grabbed a red one. "… These are gliders?" the blonde asked while examining his stick.

Aang shrugged, slamming the bottom his "glider" on the stone floor. He jumped startled, when fiery red wings unfolded form both sides on the top and bottom. He stared at in awe. "… Cool," he muttered before slamming it again, causing the wings retract back again.

Naruto and the rest of the class mimicked him, gasping when they got similar results.

Gyatso chuckled. "Very good. I didn't even need to help you." He glanced at Aang before leading the class the railing. They peered over the edge and looked at the people walking a good 100 feet below. The students stared at their instructor, awaiting their assignments.

"Jump."

Jaws were dropped and gasps were heard. The teenagers- well most-stared at each other in disbelief before looking back at their teacher like he was crazy.

Out twenty some kids, two looked totally unfazed- excited even. The blonde looked to his younger friend and asked, "Ready?" When he nodded, they both jumped atop the railing, earning looks of shock and surprise. With a brief glance toward the other and a conformational nod, they leapt off the balcony, glider wings extended.

"Oh my god!" the girl with the pink glider cried. "Do something!" she yelled to her teacher.

Gyatso only chuckled. "Look," he said, directing her- and the rest of the class'- attention to open sky. The two boys- who they had assumed had fallen to their deaths- were soaring high in the clouds, huge grins covering their faces.

"H-How…?" the girl stuttered before sighing and muttering, "Oh, what the heck?" And with that, she jumped off the edge just as she had seen the others do. She let herself relax and be accompanied by her element. When she adjusted herself on the glider, she was lifted into the sky. Without realizing it, she had bended the air around her to cause her glider to rise above it.

One by one, the other students followed Naruto, Aang, and Ty Lee's example.

Gyatso smiled to himself. There was something about the boy with the arrow tattoos- other than the master air bender tattoos and him still being in the basic air manipulation class. He just could not quite put his finger on it. But Aang was not the only one. The blonde one was special as well. He knew that things would start getting very interesting at this school.

* * *

Katara stared at her advanced water manipulation training area with awe.

The entire gym sized room was covered in ice. The temperature felt like it was… below zero degrees-or at least somewhere close. In the middle of the frozen place was a fountain with running water, pouring out of an intricately carved spout.

"Wow!"

The dark skinned female glanced at Hinata, who stood slightly behind her. They both took their time walking in, trying to take in the beautiful scene around them.

"Hello."

Both water benders jumped before swiveling around and faced a man who appeared in twenties. His hair was silver in color, styled in several spikes on top of his head. What really caught their attention was the face mask that covered the entire bottom half of his face. Oh, and the black cloth head band that was pulled down over his right eye. He smiled at them, his only visible eye closing with the gesture.

Hinata smiled in return. "Hi. Are you the teacher here?"

He nodded. "Kakashi Hatake." He extended his hand and the lavender eyed girl shook it firmly.

"Hinata Hyuuga. And this is Katara." She gave the girl at her side a sideways glance, silently asking why she was being so quiet.

"Oh, sorry," Katara said, scratching her cheek sheepishly. "I was just thinking… You don't look like a water bender."

He gave her another eye smile- that is what it would be referred to later on- and waved a hand toward the fountain a few feet away. A large stream of water swirled around him before heading straight for Katara.

The girl was so shocked; her body was temporarily frozen. The water barreled toward her at an alarming. But at the last second, Hinata flicked her wrist and the liquid dispersed-evaporated in thin air.

"What… What that hell?" Katara had gotten over her 'Deer caught in headlights' moment. She frowned at the chuckle that emanated from the man.

"In my class," he said slowly, "you must be prepared for anything and everything."

As the last word came out of his mouth, another torrent of water shot at her.

This time she was prepared. She froze her feet to help hold her ground on the ice and redirected the liquid.

Kakashi smirked under his mask before settling his gaze on the Hyuuga. A wave of water was thrown her way-

-only to have it snatched out of his grasp. The water swirled around her a few times before it shot back into the air. It stopped above him, froze into icicles, and fell around him in deadly spikes.

The man chuckled, causing the girls to glance at each other. "Very good!" he praised. "You two are very powerful. All we need to do is hone your skills." Kakashi looked them both over before freeing himself of his icy prison. "We should spar more often; it'll give me a challenge and show me how much you've improved."

The two girls smiled. "Thanks, sensei."

* * *

"Come on, Pinky. Show me what ya got."

Two girls were currently standing in their advanced earth manipulation training room. It was a large garden around the back of the campus.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "_Pinky_?"

Toph shrugged. "Would you rather I call you that or Mrs. Uchiha." She laughed when the other girl's face went the color of her hair.

"Whatever. Let's just go already."

"With pleasure." The blind girl stomped the ground beneath her, raising several rocks the size of her head. With a kick and a punch, she sent them sailing toward Sakura one by one. Sakura raised a pillar of earth to block all of them before punching the ground, sending a shockwave at Toph. Said girl raised herself on a platform and shot the bottom half. She snorted when her opponent punched the entire boulder hard enough to split it in half.

"Ahem."

They both looked toward the entrance to the training area to face a man with long black hair, a tan complexion, and piercing gray eyes. "Would you like to wait for the rest of the class before completely destroying the garden?"

Sakura blushed while Toph just snorted. "They should have gotten here on time if they wanted a piece of the action."

The man stared blankly for a second before barking out laughter. "I like you," he stated when he had calmed. "And you're not bad either," he referred to the pink haired one. "You two are skilled, I'll give you that."

"Ever think that maybe that's why we're in the _advanced_ class?" Toph muttered under her breath. Sakura sent her a scolding look, but it went unnoticed.

But the man either did not hear her or did not mind for he stretched out his hand and introduced himself. "Xin Fu."

"Sakura," the girl responded, shaking his hand.

"Toph," the blind one said shortly.

Xin Fu opened his mouth to say something, but students started pouring in, complaining about how the grounds were ruined before they had even had a chance to use them. He sighed and tried to solve the problem before it started.

Toph and Sakura sighed. If they had all these irritable kids every day, things would only be for the worse. They just hoped that no one tested their tempers any time soon.

* * *

"AWESOME!" Tenten and Sokka announced at the same time. They had just entered their advanced metal manipulation training area: a large, metal room with metal items placed randomly throughout it. Although it was somewhat plain, they loved having such an abundance of their element so nearby.

"Let's spar!" Tenten called excitedly, seeing as how they were the only ones there at the time.

The male nodded in agreement and they moved to separate ends of the room.

Sokka started. He bent a metal box that was setting to his right into a broad sword. He then started toward Tenten, who had bent a side of the wall into a flurry of kunai knives. He blocked them one by one as they flew at him with precise accuracy. When they were no longer slicing through the air and he charged once more, she created a spear. They pitted their weapons of choice against each other, causing sparks to fly. Neither cared or acknowledged the presence they sensed at the door. They did, however, when a large knife was thrown in between them, almost cutting both in the process.

"Hey!" Tenten shouted, noting the attacker was a middle aged man with a large black beard and fiery green eyes. "What was that for?"

The man smiled slowly- looking a little creepy, according to Tenten. Sokka stared, a little unsettled. Then the man chuckled and introduced himself.

"I am Seto, your instructor." Seto held out both his hands. "Pleased to meet you."

The teens shook his hands- Sokka in slight interest and Tenten in suspicion.

"I'm Sokka." The boy said cheerily.

"Tenten." The girl said tone slightly edgy.

"Please to meet you, Sokka, Tenten." He eyed the two teenagers up and down. "You seem like very skilled young benders. And you apparently enjoy your element very much."

The female crossed her arms over her chest, looking defiant. "Yeah, well when you're born without a choice of which element you belong to, you learn to love it."

"Yeah," Sokka agreed, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

Seto- apparently getting the hint- bid them a temporary farewell and went to greet the other students that were pouring the door.

"What's wrong?" Sokka gave her a stern stare which she steadily returned.

"I don't like him. I've just got a… bad feeling about him." She glared at his suspicious look. "What?"

He shrugged. "He seemed fine to me."

Tenten rolled her brown eyes before turning toward where the group was crowding together. "Whatever. Let's go."

* * *

"Hey, Sasuke."

The Uchiha sent a bored glance in the direction of the voice. "… Zuko," he responded with a nod of his head.

The fire bender sighed before opening the massive metal door that lead to their first class.

The training area was a large balcony much like the air manipulation balcony, but there was a large awning like structure that caused little light to enter. There were torches lining the sides of the stone walls and a fire pit in the middle. Chairs littered the floor, strewn all over the place. A lone figure stood in the center, swirling the fire in the pit over its head.

The two boys stared in slight awe as the flames sliced through the air with great control. They both jumped when clapping echoed off the walls all around them.

"Very good, Azula," a burly voice called from the shadows.

Zuko scowled at the name. From the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke's frown deepen.

A man walked up to the girl, the fire nation emblem on every article of clothing he had on. His beard of brown hair was a perfect triangle with eyes the same shade.

The golden eyed girl turned her head to sneer at the two boys- who seethed quietly. When the man was finished praising her, he finally noticed their being in the same room as him. "Are you two other students?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Other?"

Zuko glanced at the Uchiha briefly- somewhat surprised he had spoken at all- then looked at the man suspiciously.

He stuck out a hand as a slow lopsided smirk took over his face. "Zhao. You must be Sasuke and Zuko."

They all shook hands, the boys still looking apprehensive. Zuko cleared his throat. "Yeah… you never answered his question."

But Zhao was already heading for the door to greet the small amount of students walking in the door- hesitantly I might add.

The two teenagers shared a look before standing on the wall opposite of Azula. But, unfortunately for them, said girl spotted them and made her way over. "Zuzu," she greeted her brother. "… You," she glanced at Sasuke sideways. "Anyway, brother. How are you enjoying your wing?"

Zuko frowned at her sickeningly sweet smile. "… What have you done?"

She gave him an innocent look. "Whatever do you mean, dear brother?"

He growled. "Azula, don't test me."

She narrowed her golden orbs before leaning closer. "No you don't test me, fool. You may be older, but I am the superior in our family. Anything you say against me will just be ignored." At his unbelieving look she added, "If you haven't already noticed, I have a lot of connections here." A sly smile crept up to her lips, casting an evil look over her face.

When she abruptly walked away, Sasuke turned to him. "She said she has connections. What does that mean exactly?"

Ignoring his shock of the boy speaking directly to him, Zuko sighed heavily. "It means that whatever she does to us, we can't tell anyone. All of the teachers have been manipulated into doing whatever she says. If she does anything to us, we're on our own."

The Uchiha glanced at the back of the girl. "Well, then we'll just have to make do with what we've got: skill."

The other bender raised an eyebrow. "Why do you care so much now? Earlier you weren't interested at all."

Sasuke gave him a light smirk. "She messed with Hinata- she's like my little sister. That was strike one. She threatened me directly. Strike two. If she does anything to harm any of my other friends, that's strike three. Then she's out."

* * *

So? Good? Bad? What? Was that a good length? Review people! I need to know what you think!

So the kids in Aang and Naruto's class are ignorant. Oh, and yes I made Ty Lee an air bender. The reason she was able to not be detected by Toph was that she- uh, never mind! you'll find out later. Anyway, Katara and Hinata's teacher is crazy (but I love Kakashi-sensei). Toph and Sakura's teacher seems nice, but he's a little... rough around the edges? Hmm. Wonder why Tenten doesn't like Seto (OC)? And OMG! Sasuke and Zuko have Azula in there first hour. Wonder what she did in their wing? Wonder what Sasuke has in mind for revenge for messing with his "little sister" (Come on! We all know that he's already thought up something to get back at her).

Well, tata for now!

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


	10. Chapter 10

I'm sososososo sorry it took me so long! I went to camp for a whole week. I tried to finish writing and submit this chapter before I left but... as you can see, that didn't happen. But I;m here now with a NEW CHAPPIE! so enjoy peeps!

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 10

"Hey, Hinata!"

Naruto, Aang, and Katara sat at their chosen lunch table at the back of the cafeteria, away from prying eyes.

"Hey, Naruto. Hi guys." The Hyuuga sat beside the blonde, ruffling his hair in affection. "Did he get into too much trouble, Aang?"

The tattooed boy chuckled. "No, he was pretty good, actually."

She smiled. "Good. I didn't want to have to have to punish you, Naru."

"Oh, yeah?" He raised an eyebrow. "And what could you do?"

He flinched at her mischievous smirk. "Well," she leaned closer. "I could always politely ask the lunch workers to- I don't know- BAN you from ramen!"

The air bender gasped. "You… You wouldn't!"

She grinned. "Try me, Uzumaki." At his adorable pout, she laughed and slung an arm across his broad shoulders. "There, there, Naruto. You can always have a salad." The entire table burst into laughter when the blonde's head fell to the table and he let out a fake sob.

"Hey, have you guys seen any of the other guys?" Aang asked while munching on his salad, scolding Katara playfully when she snuck a bite.

"Yeah," Hinata answered. "Zuko, Tenten, and I spent our free period in the library." Her face clouded over. "He… He had some bad news."

A serious air surrounded them. "What do you mean bad news?" Katara asked calmly.

She sighed. "He said that Azula did something to our wing this morning. She didn't confess to it exactly, but she hinted at it a lot during their first period."

Katara's brow scrunched. "Well, even if we know she did it, there's no proof. And there's the fact that none of the teachers will believe us."

Aang looked at her sharply. "What makes you think they wouldn't believe us?"

She waved around the cafeteria. "Have you seen these people? She has them practically wrapped around her finger! You guys," she pointed to Naruto and Hinata, "may not know it, but Zuko's father is rich. All she has to do is wave around her daddy's money and she can get whatever it is she wants."

The table went silent. Each of them sat quietly, lost in their own complicated thoughts, munching absently on their already purchased lunches.

* * *

"Hey, Toph, Sakura." The two girls looked toward the boy. "Since it's free period, let's go see Katara and the rest at lunch."

The blind earth bender snorted. "You probably just want to make sure Twinkle Toes isn't hitting on your 'baby' sister."

Sokka blushed and looked away. "I hate it when you read me like that."

Sakura chuckled. "Get a move on, you two. You can have your lover's quarrel later." The pinkette laughed when they both turned red and stuttered out garbled protests.

Not long after, they reached the cafeteria, instantly spotting their friends seated at the back of the large room. Aang noticed them, proceeding to wave them over. The group of three obeyed, arriving just as the others finished their food.

"Hey," Toph spoke for them.

"Hey," Katara responded distractedly. The other three remained silent, absently nodding their heads in their direction.

The earth bender's brow furrowed. "What's wrong with you guys? You're acting like somebody died." She paused, face smoothing out a bit. "Wait, did somebody die?"

The caramel water bender shook her head in exasperation before sighing heavily. "Sit down you guys." When they complied, she relayed all of the information about Azula to the newcomers.

Toph's eyes widened as Sokka's mouth went slack. "Toph, didn't you say you sensed something this morning before we left?"

The blind girl scowled at the table in front of her. "Yeah."

"Could it have been Azula?" Aang asked, speaking for the first time since they had arrived.

She shook her head. "I would've been able to make out her footsteps. They're distinct and I'm attuned to it since she was around so much yesterday." Her brow furrowed. "It just doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe she had someone else do it for her." Every head turned toward the blonde male at the end of the table. "Maybe she- I don't know- got someone who could evade your… feet."

Katara rested her head on her folded hands. "Hm. What kind of person could avoid being detected by Toph's seeing ability?"

The tattooed boy sat and pondered for a few moments, as did the rest of his friends. Then a thought popped in his head , casuing him to gasp and bolt straight out of his seat.

"Aang?" Katara called out worriedly.

"AN AIR BENDER!" When the entire cafeteria turned their heads in response to his outburst, the water bender next to him yanked him back down into his seat.

"What are you talking about, Aang?" Hinata asked calmly, trying to figure out where he was going with that.

"Toph," he started, unintentionally ignoring the Hyuuga's question. "Do you remember when we first met?"

She nodded, confused. _'What does that matter?'_ she thought. "You and I fought."

"Exactly! When we battled and I used my air bending, you said you couldn't see me for almost the entire time. Right?"

"… Yeah," she answered hesitantly.

"Well, what if she had an advanced air bender that could keep their feet off the floor long enough to not be identified?"

The table was quiet, still absorbing the information. After a moment, the blind earth bender and the metal bending tactician jumped up.

"That means that it wasn't my feet at fault!" Toph grinned.

"And that means that you're not crazy like I thought you were!" At Toph's scowl, Sokka grinned sheepishly and sunk back down into his chair.

"But," everyone looked at the lavender eyed female. "What air bender is close enough to her that they'd follow her every order?"

Naruto and Aang recalled all of the people that shared their air manipulation class. As they sat in deep thought and the others brain stormed as well, a girl dressed top to bottom in different shades of pink walked on her hands in front of the door next to their table. Her long brown braid dragged the ground behind her as she continued to show off her amazing upper body strength.

As she moved out of sight, the air benders shared a sharp look before saying the same thing.

"Ty Lee."

* * *

How was that? Was that a good chapter length? Oooh! I love how this story is developing! If you look really closely, you can see the plot climax building itself already. Hehe. Maybe I'm just a nerd that's having WAAAY too much fun with this. ... Actually, that just about hit the nail on the head. XD. So REVIEW PLEASE!

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


	11. Chapter 11

Oh, God. It's been so long. Jeez. High School does that to you. Especially at the very beginning of the year. Everything is so ... unorganized. I barely know my schedule without having to look at my paper. But, I've gotten used to it mostly. So I should be back to updating regularly now. I'll try my hardest. :) SO here's a new chappie!

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 11

Naruto sighed as he stared out the window. He liked Iruka, he really did. But his mind was not in the lecture they were being given in World History.

"…there are currently four bending nations in this world, but there are also other lands that have no bending whatsoever. That said, benders would not be very welcome into their structured society. We are currently in one of the non bending nations in the west, but the land we are in supports the training of young benders and…"

Blue eyes snapped to his right when he felt a tap on his leg. Hinata did not look directly at him as she slid a piece of paper toward him on the table. With a raised eyebrow, he leaned down to read the note.

_Are you okay?_

He smiled and gripped his pencil and jotted down _I'm fine-just thinking_ before sliding it back. The air bender watched her face as she read over her response. Her face was expressionless as she could make it, but he knew her well enough to be able to see the tiny amount of emotion that flickered across her face- worry? What about his small sentence had made her worry? Before he could answer that question for himself, the paper was back in front of him. When he read it, his eyes widened in surprise.

_Azula?_

Hinata felt his blue eyes staring at her intensely, but kept her attention focused solely on the front of the room.

Naruto slowly turned his head back to the sheet to reply.

_Are you?_

Now she turned toward him with a raised eyebrow, writing down _Am I what?_

_Thinking about her._

She hesitated, as if contemplating on how much she should share with him. Then finally passed the paper back.

_Yes, I guess._

_ What do you mean you guess? Tell me, Hinata._

She hesitated once again, pencil hovering in the air as she tried to put her thoughts into understandable words.

_I have. I've been thinking about this is only our first day and we've already got an enemy. What makes it worse is that I caused her to dislike us. It's my entire fault that she's threatening our friends; why she's threatening you. If I hadn't-_

She squeaked in protest as the paper was gently pulled from under her pencil. The two bristled when they looked at Iruka -who neither had noticed was standing in front of their table.

"Naruto? Hinata? Is there something you would like to talk to me about?"

Hinata looked down, ashamed. The blonde felt bad for her. As long as he had known her, she was a great student. Getting in trouble was the last ting she ever wanted to do. "… No, Iruka-sensei."

Naruto frowned, but bowed his head in submission- signaling to the girl that he was not going to start a scene today. "We're fine, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka nodded and walked back to his desk, paper in hand. The water bender glanced at Naruto from the corner of her eye when his hand reached over to grasp hers. He was silently telling her it was alright.

That meant that he had read what she wrote before the note was taken.

She squeezed back lightly, and they stayed like that until it was time to leave for their last class. Before they made it halfway to the door, Iruka called out. "Naruto, Hinata! Can I talk to you for a second?"

They looked to Sokka- who shrugged and waved them toward the teacher. "I'll see you in Self Defense. But I want details." With a grin, he left them there to their fate. The two turned slowly, as if about to be caught committing some heinous crime.

The young adult- with brown hair in a ponytail, wise brown eyes, and a battle scar across his face, cheek to cheek- laughed. "You're not in trouble. Although," he waved the paper, "I'd rather you not be passing notes in my classroom."

Naruto chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. Hinata looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"But," the two looked up at the serious tone his voice had taken, "I wanted to talk to you about this note."

The Hyuuga looked down again, already knowing where this was going and not wanting it to get that far. The blonde beside her glanced at her in worry, his mouth a tight line.

Iruka stepped closer to the girl. "Hinata… Is there… something you want to talk about?" She shook her head and her teacher sighed. "I get it. It's because I'm your teacher. I can understand that." He smiled. "Hurry along you two. You'll be late for your last class." When they got before the door, he called out again. "I'm sorry, but Naruto, could I tell you something. It's important."

The blonde waved Hinata forward and she frowned, but did as he suggested.

"What is it, Iruka-sensei?"

He looked at him for a second, and then slowly answered him. "Naruto… Talk to Hinata for me. After reading that note, it seems that she's blaming herself for… something. I'm not sure what, but it's taking a real toll on her. I'm asking you because I can tell you two are very, _very _close."

"WH-What?" the boy squeaked.

Iruka wagged a finger. "Don't think I didn't see you grab her hand under the table and _leave_ it there until it was time to be dismissed." He chuckled when the air bender blushed and smiled warmly, ruffling the teenager's hair. "You can do it, Naruto. I believe that whatever you two are going through, you'll find a way to overcome it"

Naruto grinned a large grin. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei." With that, he raced out of the room and down the hall.

Iruka sighed as he watched his student disappear. "Naruto, I can tell. I can just tell that you're destined to do something great."

* * *

"NARUTO!"

The blonde jogged over to Hinata and the rest of their group. They were all there except for Aang, who had Earth Manipulation. Katara seemed most upset about that.

"It's okay, Katara," Hinata cooed.

"I know, but he must be so lonely. And here we are- with all our friends while he's all alone." The water bender sighed.

Hinata stifled a laugh, but sobered when her gaze swept across the gym like room. She frowned and said, "Trust me, at least he's safe there. We, on the other hand, might not be." When the rest of them looked at her in confusion, she nodded her head in the direction behind Katara. There in the corner, flanked by Ty Lee and some guy with short brown hair, stood the source of all their problems.

Azula.

She was smiling evilly-

-at them.

Hinata blinked when she felt a hand rest atop her head. She looked to her right at Naruto- when had he and Katara switched spots? Shrugging that aside, she elbowed his side softly and whispered, "I'm fine, Naru."

He grinned but did not remove his appendage. She shrugged and let it remain.

Zuko stood in the back of the group with Sasuke- who had opened up slightly with him since they had almost all of their classes together. Well, not so much as opened up, but held a conversation with him.

Most were about how to get Azula back for whatever she had already committed. Although he disagreed with the way the Uchiha was proposing they handle it, he could not say he did not _like_ the promising plans.

"What do you think she's planning?" Sasuke's voice startled him from his thoughts.

Yellow eyes narrowed at the girl, who crossed her arms defiantly, as if she felt them and knew exactly whose they were. "I'm not sure. You can never really tell with her devious mind."

The other fire bender snorted. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just see Sakura standing a few feet away, casting a glance at him every minute or so. Was she worried for him? If so, why? He just did not understand.

The pink head, on the other hand, knew full well why she was worried. She could tell that Azula had done something that made Sasuke angry. She could also tell that he was going to do something about it. She knew that whenever he was set to destroy mode, there was no turning back. So, she did what she thought would be best.

Try her best to prevent it from happening.

Sasuke sensed her before she was standing right next to him. "Sakura? What's wrong?"

She smiled, but he was not impressed. He could easily tell that the smile was forced, on account that it did not reach her green eyes. "Can I talk to you for a minute, Sasuke?"

He nodded soundlessly and followed her out of the ear shot of the others. "What's wrong?"

She blinked. "How'd you know something was wrong?"

Ebony eyes rolled. "Oh, please. Give me some credit. I've known you long enough to be able to tell when your smile is fake. Your eyes don't shine like they usually-"He cut off, finally realizing what he had let out. Both blushed and looked away. He coughed. "So what was it?"

"Oh-Oh! Right. Azula." She frowned when she was him frown at the mere mention of her name. "Sasuke, don't do anything dumb please. Revenge is one thing. Causing a full out war is another."

"What makes you think I was thinking of starting a war?" He gave an innocent look, but she only crossed her arms, looking unimpressed. He chuckled. "I guess you know me better than I thought."

"Sasuke, I'm serious." Her eyes pleaded with him. "Nothing major, please. For me?"

He fought hard to keep his resolve, but staring into those big, emerald eyes, he felt himself break. With a sigh he relented. "Fine."

She grinned and hugged his arm before pulling him back to the group. Zuko eyed them weirdly, but made no comment.

"ATTENTION!" Every head turned toward the trio of teachers that stood before them. "Girls, to the right. Boys, to the left," a woman with crimson eyes that looked right through you. When no one moved, the woman with a ponytail and an insane look in her eyes yelled, "If you're not on your side by the time I count to three, I'll flunk you and you'll be here for the rest of your life. WITH ME!" All the students jumped at the sheer volume and insanity dripping from her voice. "ONE!" Everyone scrambled about, some getting knocked over while they were still trying to figure out which side they were supposed to be on. When the commotion died down, she smiled a slow, cruel-looking smile and said, "Thank you."

The red-eyed woman rolled her eyes. "That's one of the girls' teachers, Anko Mitarashi." She pointed to herself. "I am the other one, Kurenai Yuhi. All of you will address me as either Yuhi-san, or Kurenai-sensei. Understood?"

There was a buzz in the two crowds as they all agreed.

She nodded. "And this," she pointed to the only man that stood up there, "is Asuma Sarutobi. Asuma-sensei to you."

He walked forward. And opened his mouth, as if about to relay a long speech. "…Yo."

The students snickered; Kurenai rolled her eyes and sighed. "The boys do have another teacher. Asuma, where's Gai?"

As if on cue, the doors burst open and the lights dimmed.

"Oh, no," Kurenai whispered and put her head in her hand.

"HELLO, ALL OF MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS!" The kids flinched at the sheer volume of his voice. "I AM YOUR YOUTHFUL TEACHER, MAITO GAI! ... AND MY FAITHFUL ASSISTANT, ROCK LEE!"

"THANK YOU FOR INCLUDING ME, GAI-SENSEI!" An exact duplicate of the voice, although younger, rang to their ears.

The lights panned back out and two males appeared in the middle of the room. The students blanched. They were both wearing extra tight green spandex body suits.

"Hello, students! As I am only an assistant, you may call me Lee!" His gaze ran across the crowds of teenagers. A spot of pink caused him to do a double take, then stop and stare.

Sakura blinked and squirmed under his blank gaze. "Um, hi. I'm Sakura." To her, Lee looked no older than a year her elder. But his large, unruly eyebrows and –awfully loud- green spandex were a great turn off.

She yelped when hearts appeared in his eyes and he grabbed her hands in his own. "Sakura-san! Would you do me the honor of going on a date tonight?"

The pinkette gaped at him, then gaped at Hinata, Tenten, and Katara- who gaped right back-, then went back to gaping at him. She saw Sokka and Zuko share a glance. What she did not see was Naruto look at Sasuke with slight worry and Sasuke's face turn into a glare.

"Uh…" Sakura glanced back at Hinata, and then snuck a look at Sasuke. She blinked in surprise when she saw him glaring at Lee. It brought a smile to her face. _'Is he jealous?'_ she thought. Out loud, she said, "Ah, I'm sorry, Lee. I'm not really… looking for a relationship right now." Is this the right way to let someone down easy?

The earth bender expected to see rejection in his eyes, but was startled to see nothing but determination. "I understand. But I will wait for you, Sakura-san!" She sweat dropped while fire burned in the background behind him.

"Ah, well I'll see you later, Lee-san." She had no problem with him. He seemed like a really fun person. But the thought of dating him did not bode well. Her eyebrows went up when Sasuke waved her over. "Yes, Sasuke?"

He looked away. "… Can you do something for me?"

She frowned, confused. "Uh, sure. What is it exactly?"

Sakura was taken aback with the sheer intensity of his gaze when he looked into her eyes with a stern expression. "Keep away from that Lee guy."

Her brow scrunched in confusion. "What? Why?"

He sighed. "Because."

Arms crossed, she retorted, "That doesn't explain anything, Sasuke."

After turning around, he closed his eyes. "Fine. Stay with him. Go out on a date or whatever. I don't care."

Sakura watched with a gaping mouth as she watched him stalk away to where other boys were congregating around the two male teachers. Then she glared. "Fine. If you don't care, I don't care!" The others looked at her after her outburst. She turned and headed in the opposite direction, muttering, "Insensitive teme," the entire way.

Hinata looked after her in concern then looked back to Naruto. "Naruto…"

The blonde nodded. "Get gloomy over there? I'm on it." He grinned and patted her head. "You take pinky over there. She looks like she's gonna rip that wall apart any second now." Hinata giggled and pushed him lightly in Sasuke's direction.

From across the room, golden eyes stared at them fiercely, planning their next move.

"Azula? What are you doing?" Ty Lee bounced up next to her and peered at her. The fire bending prodigy rolled her eyes.

"I'm strategizing. What are _you_ doing?"

The nimble one cocked her head innocently. "Well, I'm waiting for class to start. Do you think the girls will be paired with the boys? I hope so. I'd like to be partnered with _that_ piece of man over there." She jerked her chin in the direction of a blonde male that stood next to a broody black haired one.

Azula frowned. "Ty Lee, that boy is our enemy."

She blinked. "What? Since when? It's only been a day. Plus he's cool. I have first period with him. Pretty funny, too." A dreamy smile overtook her face as she named off good qualities.

"Ty Lee!" Azula barked, bringing the air bender back to reality. "He's that water bending girl's friend. The one that dumped her food on me and hangs with my loser brother. Therefore, he cannot be trusted, do you understand?"

Ty Lee's face fell, but she nodded nonetheless.

"Good." With that, Azula walked away, Ty Lee following slowly.

Unknown to them, a pair of unnoticed ears heard their short conversation.

"Can't be trusted, huh?" Toph smirked. "Oh, you don't know the half of it, sister."

* * *

Ohhhhh! Lee's here! And he caused a SasuSaku fight!now Naru and Hina have to calm them down. Plus Azula's planning something again. Plus plus Toph overheard her planning. Plus plus plus they're in self defense (PE?). What else happens when you;re mad and in a class that involves a lot of fighting techniques? Absolute chaos. To find out what chaos, stay tuned! :)

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


	12. Chapter 12

Hi! Homecoming week was BRUTAL! It was awesome but VERY time consuming. But I did have a lot of time to think about how I was going to write this chapter when I got back on. So here ya go. ;)

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 12

"Calm down, Sakura," Hinata soothed, Katara and Tenten nodding in agreement. "I'm sure Sasuke didn't mean it."

The pinkette looked up, tears threatening to fall from her emerald eyes. "That's just it, Nata. He did. He really did. And that makes it much, much worse."

The Hyuuga frowned and looked over in the boys' direction. Naruto was scolding a bored looking Uchiha. Oh, yeah. They would be having a little chit chat later.

"Look on the bright side," Tenten started brightly. "At least you now have a weapon to make him extremely jealous." She winked at the girl, who had just raised her face back from facing the ground.

"R-really? You think _I _could make him jealous?" The other three raised their eyebrows.

"Really, Sakura. I would think that'd you be less dense than Naruto," Katara stated with a roll of her brown eyes.

Sakura glared. "Just tell me what you're hinting at, K."

The water bender sighed. "Well, duh, you could make him jealous! Have you seen how he stares at you when you're not looking?... Oh, well you're not looking, so you couldn't have. But _we_," she gestured to Hinata and Tenten, "have seen it plenty of times. Therefore, we know for a fact that he really _does_ care."

"Yeah," Hinata added. "Why else would he trudge off like that unless he thought that you'd actually go after Lee-san?"

The earth bender stared at the gym floor with a blank expression on her face. Katara and Tenten thought she was just beating herself up again. But having known for a large amount of years, Hinata knew that she was just going over information in her intelligent head. She was such a brainiac.

* * *

"Sasuke, you really need to learn how to treat a girl. They're gentle and can be hurt easily…"

"Naruto."

"You have to nurture them and say nice stuff or else they'll get mad and try to kill you-"

"_Naruto_."

"Trust me. I've had that happen to me before. There was thiis girl that liked me and she told Hinata and then I had to run away from the school because she threatened my life for not telling her myself. Girls really hate that, too. If you have something to say, you have to say it in person. Not in a te-"

"Dammit, Naruto! I know, I know! But that isn't the problem here, Usuratonkachi (1)!"

Naruto blinked at his brooding best friend. "Then what _is_ the problem, teme? Or is it just you being a _real_ teme again?"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "No, it's just…"

"…that you're jealous."

"Yeah… Wait, what? I am NOT jealous, Uzumaki!"

The blonde chuckled. "Of course you are. Some guy hits on Sakura and you're ready to go to jail for murder. Sasuke, I know how you feel."

The ravenette glared. "No. No you don't. Nobody's been dumb enough yet to hit on Hinata."

Naruto blushed and looked away. "Uh, that's not the point. The point is that by telling her you don't care, you pretty much just drove her into Lee's arms." There was silence and he turned back only to blink in surprise.

Sasuke's expression was helpless. And vulnerable. He had never showed Naruto this side of him in public, considering they were still in a gym full of people. "Are you sure, Naruto?" It was barely above a whisper, but the blonde caught it.

He nodded. "If she thinks you really don't care, she'll move on." After a pause, he asked in a soft tone, "Do you want that, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha was silent. Of course he didn't want that. He would never want that. He l- uh, really felt for Sakura. No way would he give her up to a spandex wearing freak like that.

Naruto smirked when he saw the determination settle in the other boy's face. "Go get her, Tiger."

* * *

"Hey, Katara. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Katara looked up, surprised.

"Uh, sure, Toph." The blind girl led her away from the others. "What is it, Toph?"

"Azula." Katara blinked at her forwardness. "I overheard her planning something and I need your help in finding out what."

"Wait, wait, wait. Why are you asking _me_? You do know that Sokka's the strategy genius, right?"

The earth bender snorted. "Are you kidding me? Of course I know that! But you know as well as I that if I was put in any danger at all, he'd abort the mission just to baby me."

Katara mulled this over, and then shrugged. "Yeah, you're right. So what do you need me to do?"

With a grin, the shorter of the two gestured her to come closer. "Here's what you do…"

* * *

"Okay, students!" Every head turned to the front of the gym, where Kurenai was standing with both hands on her hips. "Boys in a straight line of the right, girls so the same on the left." Everyone did as they were told. "We're going to number you all off by four."

In the end, Katara and Sakura were ones; Zuko and Tenten were twos; Sokka and Toph were threes; and Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto were fours.

"Now, everyone pick a partner from your group and head to an empty mat."

"Partners?" Katara asked Sakura.

"You know it!" They grinned, high-fived, and ran to a mat.

"Wanna be partners, Toph?" The blind girl put a hand to her chin in thought.

"Hm. I guess I'll have fun throwing you around on the mat. Let's go string bean." Sokka opened his mouth to protest, but she drug him to the nearest mat.

"Let's be partners, Zu-"

"I don't think so," The voice sent shivers down the fire bender's spine. "He's mine."

Tenten stood before him. "No, he's going to be my partner, psycho."

Azula sneered. "I don't think you want to pick a fight, Metal Head."

Tenten snarled in front of her. "Then we'll be partners, _Hot_ Head."

Golden eyes glinted dangerously, as did the chocolate brown ones staring back at them. "Very well."

"Hey, Hinata. Wanna be-"

"Gomen (2), Naru, but I'm going to be partners with Sasuke, here."

Both boys blinked at her. "Uh, no that's okay, Hinata. You can be Naruto's-OW!" He glared at her for digging an elbow into his side.

"Stay here, Sasuke." she ordered as she pulled Naruto away. "Gomen, Naru. I need to talk to Sasuke about Sakura."

The blonde grinned. "I had a feeling. But no PDA young lady."

She mocked a gasp. "Who? Me? Why, I would never! ... Not in public anyway. Maybe when we get back to the wing…" With that, she walked away and left the rest up to Naruto's imagination. He dropped a jaw at how his sweet, innocent Hinata had just… Wow.

The blonde felt a tap on his shoulder. "Hi, Naruto. Want to be partners?" He looked Ty Lee up and down, as if she was hording some kind of weapon. Then he scanned the gym for Azula. She was all the way on the other side, not even paying them any attention. With a shrug, he said, "Sure. Why not?"

She squealed, catching a certain Hyuuga's attention. When Hinata turned around, Ty Lee was hugging his arm and walking in the opposite direction. The she turned her head to give a smug smirk over her shoulder. The ravenette was tempted to march over and take what was hers, but decided that today it was about Sasuke and Sakura. She'd get Ty Lee another day.

When she returned, to her surprise, Sasuke had not moved an inch. Apparently that elbow in the ribs told him she meant business. "Move it, Uchiha."

Sasuke blinked at her blatant command, but followed it nonetheless. After they had reached an empty mat, Asuma's words echoed through the entire room.

"Spar! No bending!"

Whoops and hollers followed. Sasuke and Katara both gulped, easily noticing that their sparring partners were angry; therefore, they would not hesitate to kill them.

"A teacher- or Lee- must be watching the match. Therefore, only five matches will be going on at a time. Understood?" Everyone nodded, some more hesitant than others.

Asuma chose Sokka and Toph; Anko chose Naruto and Ty Lee; Kurenai chose Hinata and Sasuke; Lee chose Sakura and Katara; and Gai chose Azula and Tenten.

"Hm…"

"What is it, Asuma?" Kurenai asked with a tilt of her head.

"These matches are going to get good. I think we should have them one at a time."

The female mulled this over for a second. "You're right. Okay, everybody!" The students all looked to her. "The teachers have chosen their matches to view. But instead of going all together, those five pairs are going to go one at a time. The order is Sokka and Toph, Sakura and Katara, Naruto and Ty Lee, Hinata and Sasuke, then Azula and Tenten."

Hinata gasped and looked over at Tenten worriedly. The brunette caught her eye and winked, reassuring her friend that she would be okay. Sasuke saw this and patted her shoulder.

"Ten's strong, Hinata. Don't underestimate her."

She sighed. "I'm not. But I'll bet you a million dollars that Azula will play dirty just because she's my friend; her enemy."

He went silent, thinking over what had just been said. "Maybe."

"First match opponents, to your mat!"

Sokka looked to Toph. "Good luck, Tophy."

She scowled. "Watch it, String Bean. We _are_ about to fight."

He grinned and winked. "You know you'd be sad if you damaged this beautiful face, honey."

She rolled her eyes, but he could see the small smile lifting her lips and the tiny blush she was trying to keep concealed.

"Ready!" Asuma asked. Both nodded. "Begin!"

* * *

1) Usuratonkachi: Complete Morom

2)Gomen: Sorry

How was that? Review people! Loves all of you that review regularly! :)

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


	13. Chapter 13

Hola people! Here's a new chappie! Oh, and I don't own Avatar or Naruto. I just wish I did. :) Enjoy!

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 13

* * *

"AH!" Sokka ducked, narrowly avoiding a swift punch from the blind girl. "What the- How can you even see? We're on a mat!"

Toph shrugged. "They must've incorporated some kind of metal in these mats because I can see you just fine, String Bean."

He coughed. "Man. That means I'll actually have to fight you."

She grinned mischievously. "Bring it, honey bun."

"Remember, first one to step out of the boundaries or is unable to fight loses," Asuma interjected from the side lines.

Both nodded before circling each other. Sokka flashed the girl a smile and charged her, fist clenched together. _'I don't want to hurt her, but I also don't wanna look like a wimp,'_ he thought with a grimace. As he threw his fist in an attempt to look like he hit her, but really not, he was surprised to have her grip it and stop all possibility of movement.

"Sorry, Meat Head. Not happenin' today." She pushed, sending the boy tumbling backwards across the mat. He stopped himself from rolling right at the edge of the mat then turned and raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "My daddy thought that it would be best to teach his helpless blind daughter hot to fight. Although I was perfectly content with my bending, he insisted that if my 'magic' ran out, I would have nothing to defend myself with." She gave an annoyed huff, making her opponent laugh.

"I always knew there was something about you Tophy." He cringed when she glared at him heatedly. "Heh, sorry."

"Come on, Sokka. I'd rather not be here all day long." She grinned at his pursed lips.

"Yeah, yeah, here I come." He launched himself once again, this time aiming for a sweep kick. She detected this and jumped and flipped out of his reach. The boy pushed himself up on his feet and sent a kick to her side. She blocked and, latching onto his leg, threw him back to the other side of the mat. He did a back hand spring and landed on his knees.

She grinned. "Not bad, Sokka. This isn't going to be as boring as I thought it was going to be."

He pouted. "Gee, thanks Toph. I'm glad you don't think I'm a _total_ failure." A few snickers ran through the crowd but he silenced them with a pointed glare.

When she didn't respond, he turned around only to dive out of the way to avoid a powerful kick aimed at his head. Without missing a beat, the blind girl followed in pursuit and punched at his stomach. He caught her hands, put them over her head, and spun her around with both arms behind her back. He then lowered her to the mat gently and applied as little pressure to her as he could. The strategist leaned his head down to whisper in her ear. "Does this mean I win?"

She snorted. "As if." With as much strength as she could muster, she hooked a leg around his back and pushed to roll them over. When she was above him, she rolled herself backward so that her hands were once again in front of her. But he held fast.

Toph spun her leg to kick his arms away, but Sokka jumped to his feet and turned to her, causing their hands to criss cross. With a grin, she pulled him close and placed a peck to his cheek before rocking to lay on her back and kicking him over her. He landed with a loud thud.

Right off the edge of the mat.

People cheered, namely the girls in the class. The boys came over and patted his shoulder saying things like "Man, I feel you" and "She used her feminine powers on you, dude". But he didn't hear a word, Toph's kiss still the only thing on his mind as he sat in a heap on the floor with a blush and a giant lopsided smile.

Katara rolled her eyes and pulled her brother up. "Snap out of it, Sokka."

He shook his head and kept staring after the blind girl. Suddenly, she turned and walked toward him, hand outstretched. "Nice job, Sokka. No hard feelings …right?" He knelt to look at her face after she ducked her head.

She yelped when he placed a hand on her cheek, when his thumb caressed her face softly. With a soft smile, he whispered, "Not at all, Toph."

The younger water bender smiled before walking back to Sakura to give them some privacy.

"Next up is Sakura-san and Katara-san!" Lee exclaimed, seating himself right in front of the mat, eyes trained on the pinkette.

Sakura squirmed uncomfortably as she and Katara walked to the opposite sides of the mat. Katara gave her a wink which she responded to with a smile.

"READY?" the teacher's assistant called. "BEGIIIIIIN!"

* * *

Good? Bad? Length? Yes, Toph whoops butt. But Sokka does to. Remember it wasn't an actual fight, he was just thrown out of bounds. In no way, shape, or form am I saying that Sokka is weak. He's one of my favorite anime tacticians (Shikamaru being the other). Just thought that I'd clear that up.

So... REVIEW PLEASE!

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


	14. Chapter 14

Hola. I don;t own Naruto or Avatar the Last Airbender. Chapter 14!

* * *

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 14

* * *

"Uh, Sakura," Katara called as the two females circled on the mat.

"Hm?" The earth bender cracked her knuckles, obviously anticipating the fight that was to come.

Katara gulped. "Can you- you know… go easy on me?"

Sakura smiled, but the younger girl could easily tell it was fake. "Oh, of course! I wouldn't want to harm anyone would I?" The other girl squealed as she ducked under the pinkette's fist. Without hesitation, the girl chased Katara around the mat, yelling, "You can't run! Fight me, K!"

"Don't wanna!"

"You _have_ to!"

"Not if I know for a fact that you're going to _kill_ me!" Sakura slowed to a stop, sighing as she smiled-a real smile this time.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. But can we just do this and get it over with?" She gestured to the crowd. "I think they expect us to do _something_."

The water bender rolled her eyes and, standing near the edge of the opposite end of the mat, held her hands up in a water bending stance. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Are you really going to fight with a stance like _that_?" Katara snorted.

"Hey, this is Self Defense- I came here to learn. Besides, water bending techniques are close enough to fighting."

The other girl shrugged and sunk to her own battle stance. "Let's rock'n'roll, K." At the other girl's hesitant nod, she stalked forward and the two began to circle once again. Having reached the other side of the mat, the earth bender decided it was time to get this show on the road.

She swung her right fist swiftly; the other girl ducked at the last minute and brought her right foot around. Sakura leaned back and performed a back bend before landing upright on her feet and giving the water bender a smile.

"Not bad." Katara rolled her eyes, a smile flitting to her lips.

"I try, I try." The pinkette blinked as she was charged upon, barely able to dodge the flat hand that sliced the air in front of her face. Apparently the brunette was serious about the water bending technique stuff. With yet another shrug, Sakura ducked under another jab and swept the girl's feet from under her.

Katara yelped as she fell, rolling backward when she hit the mat, narrowly avoiding the fist that landed in her previous spot. Knowing her opponent wasn't about to let her have a break, she jumped to her feet and wrapped her hand around a blow meant for her stomach. She gave the older girl a smile before pulling the hand forward and, putting her leg in front of the girl's legs, throwing her to the ground before pinning her to the mat.

Sakura grunted as the front of her hit the floor, her breath leaving her in a whoosh. She felt the weight of another body leaning heavily on her back, not allowing her to push up. A laugh sounded overhead.

"Looks like I won this round, Pinky." The earth bender's eyebrow twitched.

"Pinky?"

Katara raised an eyebrow, silently asking what the heck the big deal was_._ "Uh, yeah." The girl smiled sweetly and it began to creep her out, but the coldly confident spark in emerald eyes made her worry just what she had done wrong.

"You really shouldn't have said that."

"Aw man," Katara heard Hinata and Tenten sigh from the crowd.

"What? What'd I do?" The Hyuuga shook her head, out of disappointment or sympathy, she couldn't tell. She also didn't understand what Naruto and Sasuke thought was so funny. "What's with the snickering? Hinata?"

The ravenette sighed again, more annoyance in her tone than anything else. "You unleashed her. That's great."

The other water bender began to sweat in slight fear. Just what the hell did _that_ mean? "_Her_? Who is-AH!"

She yelped as she was pushed off of the girl's back forcefully, landing equally roughly on the mat a few feet away. "Ow. What the hell, Saku-"A chilling aura caused her to stop mid-sentence.

"Oh honey that was nothing." Katara gulped as the older girl cracked her knuckles, much more savagely than she had at the beginning of the fight. "It's only the beginning, my friend."

"Katara meet Inner Sakura," Hinata called sympathetic from the sidelines. Tenten clasped her hands in prayer.

"God, please don't let Katara die. It isn't her time and-"

"Stop praying for me! I'm not gonna die, dummy!" Tenten shrugged and sank to the floor, propping her head up on her hands as she watched them expectantly. The water bender rolled her eyes. "I'm going to be fine because-"The second the last word left her mouth, a fist entered her line of vision and her reflexives took over. She leaned back and promptly fell back onto her backside once again. But she didn't stay long, for she could feel the other girl hot on her trail. Sakura jumped, sending a kick to Katara's stomach.

The water bender grunted as she hit the floor, a sharp pain exploding in her abdomen. But before she could feel too much of it, another kick came toward her leg. Katara rolled on her back to her knees and launched herself into the air.

"Hah!" The brunette slammed into the other girl's waist and brought them both down in a large heap in the middle of the mat. Inner Sakura howled with rage and thrashed under the other girl's weight. The two of them wrestled and flitted around the mat, always barely tumbling over the edge.

"Would… you… just… _fall off already_!" Katara bellowed as she tried to keep her hold on the pinkette. "Then… _maybe_ we… could be… _**done with this!**_"

Inner Sakura growled. "I… will… not lose… so easy- AH!"

Then both of them fell.

Right of the edge of the mat.

"Ugh," Sakura moaned as arms helped her into a sitting position. "What happ- Sasuke?" She blinked at the Uchiha –whose arms were coiled around her shoulders, currently acting as the only thing keeping her up.

"You went 'Inner Sakura' on Katara and fell off the mat. Oh, you both lost by the way." He chuckled when she groaned and hid her face.

"Aw man! I really wanted to win and show you-"She quickly covered her mouth in an attempt to take back the words she so carelessly let slip out. "I-I mean-"

"I'm sorry." Emerald eyes blinked up at him. The girl tried to catch his eye, but he turned away to stare at the ground.

"W-What?"

"I said I'm sorry. I… shouldn't have said all that stuff, Sakura. … Can you forgive me?"

She blinked, in too much shock to respond. Had Sasuke Uchiha just apologized for being a jerk? Scratch that. Did Sasuke Uchiha just apologize to _her_ for saying something dumb? Weren't Uchihas supposed to be- I don't know- always correct? Did he-

"Sakura? You haven't said anything. You're worrying me. Is that a yes or a no? 'Cause if it's a no, I'll-"

"NO! I-I mean… yes. Yes, I forgive you, Sasuke. Well, only if you can forgive me for not respecting your feelings in the first place." She smiled up at him and he returned it- the softest, most emotional smile she'd ever seen him give.

"Of course."

"Not like this isn't cute and all, but… could you GET OFF ME!" Katara screeched from the ground, still laid out under the pinkette from when they fell.

"Oh. Sorry, K-!" Sasuke wrapped an arm around her back and looped the other under her legs, hauling her up and holding the blushing girl above the water bender.

"Sorry, Katara."

She huffed and brushed dirt from her shorts. "Sure, Sasuke. But next time you two want to get all lovey dovey, try to do it when I'm not hurting on the ground. Thanks." With that, she turned and stalked toward the other side of the mat.

The two watched until she disappeared into the crowd, and then laughed lightly, still clutching each other.

"Sakura-san! I came to see if- oh, Uchiha-kun." Lee walked over and spotted them, Sakura still being held in Sasuke's arms. "Well, I can see that Uchiha-kun is taking good care of you. I shall leave her well-being to you, Sasuke-san!" He left without another word, heading back to the front of the mat to watch the next match.

"That was… unexpected. Huh, Sasu- What's wrong?" Sasuke continued to glare at Lee's back as he walked away from them.

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Why were you glaring at Lee-san?" She frowned.

He shrugged. "Guess I'm still not… used to being around his yet. He's very-what's the word? Eccentric?"

She laughed and swatted his arm. "Just try to be nice to his okay? For me?"

He rolled his dark eyes at her pouting face. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don't let him convince you to go out on a date anytime soon."

She quirked an eyebrow, a smirk lifting her lip. "Why? You wouldn't have to be _jealous_ would you, Sasuke?" He huffed and looked away, only causing her to laugh. "Don't worry. I was thinking of asking out Zuko. Do you think he'd wanna hook up?" She couldn't contain her loud guffaw when he glared heatedly at her.

"Aren't you a cutie? I think jealousy looks really good on a guy."

"Sakura!"

"Aw, it looks like they made up," Hinata told the blonde next to her as they watched from afar.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "Does he know he hasn't let her down yet?"

She giggled. "Either he hasn't or he just doesn't care." Her laugh fell silent when Naruto's arm wrapped around her shoulders. She sighed and sagged against him, fisting some of the fabric of his shirt.

"Well, it looks like you don't have to 'teach Sasuke a lesson'," he joked.

"Mhmm."

"Hina? What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing. Just… thinking."

''Bout what?" He twisted his head to get a look at her face.

The ravenette shrugged. "About how much our lives are going to change. This school is doing something to us."

"Something good I hope?" She giggled and nodded.

"Yeah, Naru. Something really good."

"Next up is Hinata and Sasuke! Fighters to the mat!"

She sighed. "Now I have to go kill my brother."

Naruto chuckled. "Don't hurt him too bad. He just got back on Sakura's good side."

Hinata rolled her eyes and made her way to the mat, the blonde's eyes never leaving her. Ty Lee watched with narrowed brown eyes from across the room, praying that the Hyuuga would trip on her ten foot trip to the mat in the middle of the room.

"Azula was right. Can't be trusted."

* * *

Yep. Sasuke and Sakura made up. And Ty Lee is jealous. No I have no intention of making Naru with ANYONE but Hina. So don't start people!

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan


End file.
